Bøger af Jurgen Renn

How the Einsteinian revolution can be understood as the result of a long-term evolution of science The revolution that emerged from Albert Einstein's work in the early twentieth century transformed our understanding of space, time, motion, gravity, matter, and radiation. Beginning with Einstein's miracle year of 1905 and continuing through his development of the theory of general relativity, Einstein spurred a revolution that continues to reverberate in modern-day physics. In The Einsteinian Revolution, Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn trace the century-long transformation of classical physics and argue that the revolution begun by Einstein was in fact the result of a long-term evolution. Describing the origins and context of Einstein's innovative research, Gutfreund and Renn work to dispel the popular myth of Einstein as a lone genius who brought about a revolution in physics through the power of his own pure thought. We can only understand the birth of modern physics, they say, if we understand the long history of the evolution of knowledge. Gutfreund and Renn outline the essential structures of the knowledge system of classical physics on which Einstein drew. Examining Einstein's discoveries from 1905 onward, they describe the process by which new concepts arose and the basis of modern physics emerged. These transformations continued, eventually resulting in the establishment of quantum physics and general relativity as the two major conceptual frameworks of modern physics--and its two unreconciled theoretical approaches. Gutfreund and Renn note that Einstein was dissatisfied with this conceptual dichotomy and began a search for a unified understanding of physics--a quest that continued for the rest of his life.

Einstein's field equations of gravitation are a core element of his general theory of relativity. In four short communications to the Prussian Academy of Sciences in Berlin in November 1015, we can follow the final steps toward these equations and the resulting theory's spectacular success in accounting for the anomalous motion of Mercury's perihelion. This source book provides an expert guide to these four groundbreaking papers. Following an introductory essay placing these papers in the context of the development of Einstein's theory, it presents and analyzes, in addition to the four papers of November 1915, a careful selection of (critical excerpts from) papers, letters, and manuscripts documenting the path that early on led Einstein to the field equations of the first November 1915 paper, but then took a turn away from them only to lead back to them in the end. Drawing on extensive research at the Einstein Papers Project and the Max Planck Institute for History of Science, this volume traces the intricate interplay between considerations of physics and considerations of mathematics that guided Einstein along this path. It thus presents a concise yet authoritative account of how Einstein found his field equations, affording readers who are prepared to immerse themselves in these intricacies a unique glimpse of Einstein at work at the height of his creative prowess. Highlights of this journey in Einstein's footsteps include the crucial pages (with detailed annotation) from the Zurich Notebook, the record of Einstein's early search for field equation with his mathematician friend Marcel Grossmann, and the Einstein-Besso manuscript, documenting Einstein's attempts with his friend and confidant Michele Besso to explain the Mercury anomaly on the basis of the equations that he and Grossmann had eventually settled on in the Zurich Notebook.

This four-volume work represents the most comprehensive documentation and study of the creation of general relativity; one of the fundamental physical theories of the 20th century. It comprises key sources from Einstein and others who from the late 19th to the early 20th century contributed to this monumental development. Some of these sources are presented here in translation for the first time. Einstein¿s famous Zurich notebook, which documents the pivotal steps toward general relativity, is reproduced here for the first time and transcribed in its entirety. The volumes offer detailed commentaries and analyses of these sources that are based on a close reading of these documents supplemented by interpretations by the leading historians of relativity. All in all, the facets of this work, based on more than a decade of research, combine to constitute one of the most in-depth studies of a scientific revolution ever written. TOC:IntroductionPart I: The Gravitational Force between Mechanics, Electrodynamics andAstronomyPart II: An Astronomical Road to a New Theory of GravitationPart III: A New Law of Gravitation Enforced by Special RelativityPart IV: The Problem of Gravitation as a Challenge for the Minkowski FormalismPart V: A Field Theory of Gravitation in the Framework of Special RelativityIndex

This four-volume work represents the most comprehensive documentation and study of the creation of general relativity; one of the fundamental physical theories of the 20th century. It comprises key sources from Einstein and others who from the late 19th to the early 20th century contributed to this monumental development. Some of these sources are presented here in translation for the first time. Einstein¿s famous Zurich notebook, which documents the pivotal steps toward general relativity, is reproduced here for the first time and transcribed in its entirety. The volumes offer detailed commentaries and analyses of these sources that are based on a close reading of these documents supplemented by interpretations by the leading historians of relativity. All in all, the facets of this work, based on more than a decade of research, combine to constitute one of the most in-depth studies of a scientific revolution ever written. TOC:Part VI: From an Electromagnetic Theory of Matter to a New Theory of GravitationPart VII: Including Gravitation in a Unified Theory of PhysicsPart VIII: From Peripheral Mathematics to a New Theory of GravitationIndex

Am Ende des Zweiten Weltkriegs wurde Albert Einstein eingeladen, seine intellektuelle Autobiografie für die Library of Living Philosophers zu schreiben. Das Ergebnis war sein einzigartiger Text, Autobiographisches, ein Klassiker der Wissenschaftsgeschichte, der die Entwicklung seiner Ideen mit unvergleichlicher Prägnanz erklärt. Hanoch Gutfreund und Jürgen Renn stellen Einsteins wissenschaftliche Überlegungen dem heutigen Leser vor, zeichnen seine intellektuelle Entwicklung von der Kindheit bis ins hohe Alter nach und bieten ein fesselndes Porträt der Entwicklung eines Wissenschaftlers und Philosophen. Einstein über Einstein enthält, neben den Originaltext, Essays, die Einsteins Überlegungen in den Kontext der verschiedenen Phasen seines wissenschaftlichen Lebens stellen. Gutfreund und Renn stützen sich auf Einsteins Schriften, persönliche Korrespondenz und Kommentare von seinen Zeitgenossen, um neue Perspektiven auf seine größten Entdeckungen zu eröffnen. Ebenfalls enthalten sind Einsteins Antworten auf seine Kritiker, die ein zusätzliches Licht auf seine wissenschaftliche und philosophische Weltanschauung werfen. Gutfreund und Renn zitieren ausführlich aus Einsteins ersten, unveröffentlichten Skizzen seiner Antworten. Der Band umfasst außerdem einen kurzen autobiografischen Text, den Einstein wenige Wochen vor seinem Tod geschrieben hat. Einstein über Einstein ist mit eindrucksvollen Zeichnungen des Künstlers Laurent Taudin sowie mit zeitgenössischen Fotografien illustriert.

It brings together historical case studies from various fields and discusses epistemological questions such as the role of images as mediatory instances between practical and theoretical knowledge, the interaction between images and texts, and the potential of images to synthesize fragments of knowledge to a global picture.

The question of when and how the basic concepts that characterize modern science arose in Western Europe has long been central to the history of science.