The Principle of Relativity

There was little material for the confirmation of this law when it was first proposed (1905), and eleven years elapsed before Prof. Millikan established, by a set of experiments scarcely rivalled for the ingenuity, skill, and care displayed, the absolute truth of the law. As results of this confirmation, and other brilliant triumphs, the quantum law is now regarded as a fundamental law of Energetics. In recent years, X-rays have been added to the domain of light, and in this direction also, Einstein’s photo-electric formula has proved to be one of the most fruitful conceptions in Physics.

The quantum law was next extended by Einstein to the problems of decrease of specific heat at low temperature, and here also his theory was confirmed in a brilliant manner.

We pass over his other contributions to the equation of state, to the problems of null-point energy, and photo-chemical reactions. The recent experimental works of Nernst and Warburg seem to indicate that through Einstein’s genius, we are probably for the first time having a satisfactory theory of photo-chemical action.

In 1915, Einstein made an excursion into Experimental Physics, and here also, in his characteristic way, he tackled one of the most fundamental concepts of Physics. It is well-known that according to Ampere, the magnetisation of iron and iron-like bodies, when placed within a coil carrying an electric current is due to the excitation in the metal of small electrical circuits. But the conception though a very fruitful one, long remained without a trace of experimental proof, though after the discovery of the electron, it was generally believed that these molecular currents may be due to the rotational motion of free electrons within the metal. It is easily seen that if in the process of magnetisation, a number of electrons be set into rotatory motion, then these will impart to the metal itself a turning couple. The experiment is a rather difficult one, and many physicists tried in vain to observe the effect. But in collaboration with de Haas, Einstein planned and successfully carried out this experiment, and proved the essential correctness of Ampere’s views.

Einstein’s studies on Relativity were commenced in the year 1905, and has been continued up to the present time. The first paper in the present collection forms Einstein’s first great contribution to the Principle of Special Relativity. We have recounted in the introduction how out of the chaos and disorder into which the electrodynamics and optics of moving bodies had fallen previous to 1895, Lorentz, Einstein and Minkowski have succeeded in building up a consistent, and fruitful new theory of Time and Space.

But Einstein was not satisfied with the study of the special problem of Relativity for uniform motion, but tried, in a series of papers beginning from 1911, to extend it to the case of non-uniform motion. The last paper in the present collection is a translation of a comprehensive article which he contributed to the Annalen der Physik in 1916 on this subject, and gives, in his own words, the Principles of Generalized Relativity. The triumphs of this theory are now matters of public knowledge.

Einstein is now only 45, and it is to be hoped that science will continue to be enriched, for a long time to come, with further achievements of his genius.