The Einstein Almanac

198 Pages·2005·14.79 MB·English

by  Alice Calaprice

Einstein
The
Almanac
Alice Calaprice
•••The • •
Einstein
Almanac
Alice Calaprice
Albert Einstein was an exceptional human being.
Perhaps nothing reflects the breadth and scope of his
brilliance, his interests, and his influence better than
his publications—more than six hundred scientific
papers, books, essays, reviews, and opinion pieces.
Einstein began publishing in March 1901 with a scien-
tific work that appeared in the German journal Annalen
der Physik when he was twenty-two; the last publication
was an editorial in the journal Common Cause, which
appeared a few months before his death_in 1955. In
the fifty-four-year interval, his published work ranged
widely over relativity theory and quantum physics,
nationalism, Judaism, war, peace, and education. Indeed,
Einstein's literary output was so abundant that even
many of his most informed admirers are not familiar
with all of it.
The Einstein Almanac takes a look at Einstein's year-
by-year output, explaining his three hundred most
important publications and setting them into the con-
text of his life, science, and world history. Concentrat-
ing primarily on Einstein's scientific and humanitarian
writings, Alice Calaprice summarizes most of the
THE EINSTEIN ALMANAC

The Einstein
Almanac
Alice Calaprice
The Johns Hopkins University Press
Baltimore and London
!
© 2005 The Johns Hopkins University Press
All rights reserved. Published 2005
Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21
The Johns Hopkins University Press
2715 North Charles Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21218-4363
www.press.jhu.edu
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publitation Data
Calaprice, Alice.
The Einstein almanac/Alice Calaprice.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8018-8021-1 (acid-free paper)
1. Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955. 2. Physicists—Biography.
3. Relativity (Physics)—History. 4. Physics—History—20th cen-
tury. 5. Einstein, Albert, 1879-1955—Bibliography. I. Title.
QC16.E5C35 2004
530'.092—dc22 2004009048
A catalog record for this book is available from the British Library
Pages 175-176 constitute an extension of this copyright page.
CONTENTS
Preface vii
A Brief Einstein Timeline for the Years 1879-1900 xi
Selected Published Papers & Commentary, 1901-1955 1
Bibliography 165
Index 169
Illustration Credits 175

PREFACE
The past exists only insofar as it is present in the records of today. And
what those records are is determined by what questions we ask. There
is no other history than that.—John Wheeler, 1982
When looking at Albert Einstein's entire list of publica-
tions, one can't help but feel awe at the breadth and scope
of his talents, interests, and involvements and, ultimately,
his influence. Surely, no other scientist has been able to
match such a legacy in the twentieth century.
This book presents a concise summary of Einstein's
life and of the times in which he lived, stressing the ma-
jor landmarks in physics and, within that context, giving
a large sampling of his work. A reader can discover the
influences and circumstances in Einstein's life that may
have led to his immense contributions. The accident of
the historical time into which Einstein was born allowed
him to mature into adulthood during an era of exciting
cultural and political changes. Other factors that influ-
enced his life were his family background and values and
his ethnicity; the people he serendipitously encountered;
his unique genetic makeup and personality; and, indeed,
the scientists who came before him and made his discov-
eries possible.
In the pages that follow, you'll find most of Einstein's
publications, speeches, and contributions to his commu-
nity, the last of which he felt were paramount in anyone's
life. Albert Einstein began his long list of publications
with a scientific paper he had finished writing at the age
of twenty-one. It was published in the German journal
Annalen derPhysik in March igoi.The book closes with a
nonscientific article for Common Cause in 1955. Such a be-
ginning and such an end seem appropriate, for Einstein
Preface
did his best science during the first half of his life—and
some even say only in the decades between 1905 and 1925,
when he was relatively young. His interests broadened as
the events of the twentieth century paved the way for his
increasing commitment to international political and so-
cial issues.
In between these two papers we find an assortment
of publications from one of the most multifaceted indi-
viduals of our time. Einstein's writings reveal his wide-
ranging interests and viewpoints. Fortunately for us, he
was a man of many words and convictions, fearless and
sometimes ruthless in expressing his ideas and opinions.
He had something to say on everything from relativity
and quantum theory to a "theory of living," from Ger-
man nationalism to liberal Judaism, from war to peace,
from atheism to "cosmic religion," from lynching to the
death penalty.
For this book I have chosen only a representative se-
lection from his huge resume of more than six hundred
diverse publications, concentrating mostly on his scien-
tific and humanitarian writings. In addition, I have in-
cluded a small sampling of the interviews he gave and
the eulogies and tributes he wrote. He also participated
in radio broadcasts and wrote book reviews, patent opin-
ions, and newspaper articles. Somehow, he also found
time to write thousands of letters and a variety of state-
ments, aphorisms, and speeches that were not published
but were later collected and printed in compilations such
as Ideas and Opinions half a century ago and more fully
in the ongoing series, The Collected Papers of Albert Ein-
stein. Some of these gems can be found in my Quotable
Einstein books.
To put these works into context, I am presenting them
chronologically with descriptions of concurrent events
in Einstein's personal life, the world in general, and the
realm of physical science. I summarized the content of
each paper whenever I was able to find information on it
or had access to the book or article itself.