| AUTHOR: |
Einstein,
Albert, 1879–1955. |
| TITLE: |
Relativity:
The special and general theory, by Albert Einstein. Translated by
Robert W. Lawson. |
| PUBLISHED: |
New York:
Henry Holt and Company, 1920. |
| PHYSICAL
DETAILS: |
xiii, 168
p. front (port.) 22 cm. |
| ISBN: |
1-58734-092-5. |
| CITATION: |
Einstein,
Albert. Relativity: The Special and General Theory. New York:
Henry Holt, 1920; Bartleby.com, 2000. www.bartleby.com/173/.
[Date of Printout]. |
| ON-LINE
ED.: |
Published
April 2000 by Bartleby.com;
© 2000 Copyright Bartleby.com, Inc. (Terms
of Use). |
|
THE PRESENT book is intended, as far
as possible, to give an exact insight into the theory of
Relativity to those readers who, from a general scientific and
philosophical point of view, are interested in the theory, but
who are not conversant with the mathematical apparatus(1)
of theoretical physics. The work presumes a standard of
education corresponding to that of a university matriculation
examination, and, despite the shortness of the book, a fair
amount of patience and force of will on the part of the
reader. The author has spared himself no pains in his
endeavour to present the main ideas in the simplest and most
intelligible form, and on the
whole, in the sequence and connection in which they actually
originated. In the interest of clearness, it appeared to me
inevitable that I should repeat myself frequently, without
paying the slightest attention to the elegance of the
presentation. I adhered scrupulously to the precept of that
brilliant theoretical physicist, L. Boltzmann, according to
whom matters of elegance ought to be left to the tailor and to
the cobbler. I make no pretence of having with-held from the
reader difficulties which are inherent to the subject. On the
other hand, I have purposely treated the empirical physical
foundations of the theory in a “step-motherly” fashion, so
that readers unfamiliar with physics may not feel like the
wanderer who was unable to see the forest for trees. May the
book bring some one a few happy hours of suggestive thought!
A. EINSTEIN
December, 1916
NOTE TO THE THIRD EDITION
IN the present year (1918) an excellent
and detailed manual on the general theory of relativity,
written by H. Weyl, was published by the firm Julius Springer
(Berlin). This book, entitled Raum — Zeit — Materie
(Space — Time — Matter), may be warmly recommended to
mathematicians and physicists.
Note (1).
The mathematical fundaments of the special theory of
relativity are to be found in the original papers of H. A.
Lorentz, A. Einstein, H. Minkowski published under the title Das
Relativitäts-prinzip (The Principle of Relativity) in B.
G. Teubner’s collection of monographs Fortschritte der
mathematischen Wissenschaften (Advances in the
Mathematical Sciences), also in M. Laue’s exhaustive book Das
Relativitäts prinzip—published by Friedr. Vieweg &
Son, Braunschweig. The general theory of relativity, together
with the necessary parts of the theory of invariants, is dealt
with in the author’s book Die Grundlagen der allgemeinen
Relativitätstheorie (The Foundations of the General
Theory of Relativity)—Joh. Ambr. Barth, 1916; this book
assumes some familiarity with the special theory of
relativity.
[back]
TRANSLATED BY ROBERT W. LAWSON
NEW YORK: HENRY HOLT, 1920
NEW YORK: BARTLEBY.COM, 2000
|
