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.