Einstein (120 page)

76
. Overbye, 140; Trbuhovic-Gjuric, 92–93; Zackheim, 62.

77
. The issue of whether Mari
’s name was in any way ever on a manuscript of the special theory is a knotted one, but it turns out that the single source for such reports, a late Russian physicist, never actually said precisely that, and there is no other evidence at all to support the contention. For an explanation, see John Stachel’s appendix to the introduction of
Einstein’s Miraculous Year
, centennial reissue edition (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005), lv.

78
. “The Relative Importance of Einstein’s Wife,”
The Economist
, Feb. 24, 1990; Evan H. Walker, “Did Einstein Espouse His Spouse’s Ideas?”,
Physics Today
, Feb. 1989; Ellen Goodman, “Out from the Shadows of Great Men,”
Boston Globe
, Mar. 15, 1990;
Einstein’s Wife
, PBS, 2003, www.pbs.org/opb/einsteins wife/index.htm; Holton 2000, 191; Robert Schulmann and Gerald Holton, “Einstein’s Wife,” letter to the
New York Times Book Review
, Oct. 8, 1995; Highfield and Carter, 108–114; Svenka Savi
, “The Road to Mileva Mari
-Einstein,” www.zenskestudie.edu.yu/wgsact/e-library/e-lib0027.html#_ftn1;
Christopher Bjerknes,
Albert Einstein: The Incorrigible Plagiarist
, home.com cast.net/~xtxinc/CIPD.htm; Alberto Martínez, “Arguing about Einstein’s Wife,”
Physics World
, Apr. 2004, physicsweb.org/articles/world/17/4/2/1; Alberto Martínez, “Handling Evidence in History: The Case of Einstein’s Wife,”
School Science Review
, Mar. 2005, 51–52; Zackheim, 20; Andrea Gabor,
Einstein’s Wife: Work and Marriage in the Lives of Five Great Twentieth-Century Women
(New York: Viking, 1995); John Stachel, “Albert Einstein and Mileva Mari
: A Collaboration That Failed to Develop,” in H. Prycior et al., eds.,
Creative Couples in Science
(New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press, 1995), 207–219; Stachel 2002a, 25–37.

79
. Michelmore, 45.

80
. Holton 2000, 191.

81
. Einstein to Conrad Habicht, June 30–Sept. 22, 1905 (almost certainly in early September, after returning from vacation and getting to work on the
E=mc
²
paper).

82
. Einstein, “Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on Its Energy Content?,”
Annalen der Physik
18 (1905), received Sept. 27, 1905, CPAE 2: 24.

83
. For an insightful look at the background and ramifications of Einstein’s equation, see Bodanis. Bodanis also has a useful website that includes further details: davidbodanis.com/books/emc2/notes/relativity/sigdev/index.html. The calculation about the mass of a raisin is in Wolfson, 156.

CHAPTER SEVEN: THE HAPPIEST THOUGHT

1
. Maja Einstein, xxi.

2
. Fölsing, 202; Max Planck,
Scientific Autobiography and Other Papers
(New York: Philosophical Library, 1949), 42.

3
. More precisely, the definition that Richard Feynman uses in his
Lectures on Physics
(Boston: Addison-Wesley, 1989), 19-1 is, “Action in physics has a precise meaning. It is the time average of the kinetic energy of a particle minus the potential energy. The principle of least action then states that a particle will travel along the path that minimizes the difference between its kinetic and potential energies.”

4
. Fölsing, 203; Einstein to Maurice Solovine, Apr. 27, 1906; Einstein tribute to Planck, 1913, CPAE 2: 267.

5
. Max Planck to Einstein, July 6, 1907; Hoffmann 1972, 83.

6
. Max Laue to Einstein, June 2, 1906.

7
. Hoffmann 1972, 84; Seelig 1956a, 78; Fölsing, 212.

8
. Arnold Sommerfeld to Hendrik Lorentz, Dec. 26, 1907, in Diana Kormos Buchwald, “The First Solvay Conference,” in
Einstein in Context
(Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 64. Sommerfeld is referring to the German physicist Emil Cohn, an expert in electrodynamics.

9
. Jakob Laub to Einstein, Mar. 1, 1908.

10
. Swiss Patent Office to Einstein, Mar. 13, 1906.

11
. Mileva Mari
to Helene Savi
, Dec. 1906.

12
. Einstein, “A New Electrostatic Method for the Measurement of Small Quantities of Electricity,” Feb. 13, 1908, CPAE 2: 48; Overbye, 156.

13
. Einstein to Paul and/or Conrad Habicht, Aug. 16, Sept. 2, 1907, Mar. 17, June, July 4, Oct. 12, Oct. 22, 1908, Jan. 18, Apr. 15, Apr. 28, Sept. 3, Nov. 5, Dec. 17, 1909; Overbye, 156–158.

14
. Einstein, “On the Inertia of Energy Required by the Relativity Principle,” May 14, 1907, CPAE 2: 45; Einstein to Johannes Stark, Sept. 25, 1907.

15
. Einstein to Bern Canton Education Department, June 17, 1907, CPAE 5: 46; Fölsing, 228.

16
. Einstein 1922c.

17
. Einstein, “Fundamental Ideas and Methods of Relativity Theory,” 1920, unpublished draft of a paper for
Nature
magazine, CPAE 7: 31. The phrase he used was “glücklichste Gedanke meines Lebens.”

18
. “Einstein Expounds His New Theory,”
New York Times
, Dec. 3, 1919.

19
. Bernstein 1996a, 10, makes the point that Newton’s thought experiments involving a falling apple and Einstein’s involving an elevator “were liberating insights that revealed unexpected depths in commonplace experiences.”

20
. Einstein 1916, chapter 20.

21
. Einstein, “The Fundaments of Theoretical Physics,”
Science
, May 24, 1940, in Einstein 1954, 329. See also Sartori, 255.

22
. Einstein first used the phrase in a paper he wrote for the
Annalen der Physik
in Feb. 1912, “The Speed of Light and the Statics of the Gravitational Field,” CPAE 4: 3.

23
. Janssen 2002.

24
. The gravitational field would have to be static and homogeneous and the acceleration would have to be uniform and rectilinear.

25
. Einstein, “On the Relativity Principle and the Conclusions Drawn from It,”
Jahrbuch der Radioaktivität and Elektronik
, Dec. 4, 1907, CPAE 2: 47; Einstein to Willem Julius, Aug. 24, 1911.

26
. Einstein to Marcel Grossmann, Jan. 3, 1908.

27
. Einstein to the Zurich Council of Education, Jan. 20, 1908; Fölsing, 236.

28
. Einstein to Paul Gruner, Feb. 11, 1908; Alfred Kleiner to Einstein, Feb. 8, 1908.

29
. Flückiger, 117–121; Fölsing, 238; Maja Einstein, xxi.

30
. Alfred Kleiner to Einstein, Feb. 8, 1908.

31
. Friedrich Adler to Viktor Adler, June 19, 1908; Rudolph Ardelt,
Friedrich Adler
(Vienna: österreichischer Bundesverlag, 1984), 165–194; Seelig 1956a, 95; Fölsing, 247; Overbye, 161.

32
. Frank 1947, 75; Einstein to Michele Besso, Apr. 29, 1917.

33
. Einstein to Jakob Laub, May 19, 1909; Reiser, 72.

34
. Friedrich Adler to Viktor Adler, July 1, 1908; Einstein to Jakob Laub, July 30, 1908.

35
. Einstein to Jakob Laub, May 19, 1909.

36
. Alfred Kleiner, report to the faculty, Mar. 4, 1909; Seelig 1956a, 166; Pais 1982, 185; Fölsing, 249.