The Cambridge companion to Einstein

Description

Introduction / Michel Janssen and Christoph Lehner -- Einstein's Copernican Revolution / Jèurgen Renn and Robert Rynasiewicz -- Einstein's special theory of relativity and the problems in the electrodynamics of moving bodies that led him to it / John D. Norton -- Einstein on statistical physics: fluctuations and atomism / A.J. Kox -- The quantum enigma / Olivier Darrigol -- The experimental challenge of light quanta / Roger H. Stuewer -- "No success like failure ...: Einstein's quest for general relativity, 1907-1920 / Michel Janssen -- Einstein's role in the creation of Relativistic Cosmology / Christopher Smeenk -- Einstein, gravitational waves, and the theoretician's regress / Daniel J. Kennefick -- Einstein's unified field theory program / Tilman Sauer -- Einstein's realism and his critique of quantum mechanics / Christoph Lehner -- Einstein and the development of twentieth-century philosophy of science / Don Howard -- "A believing rationalist": Einstein and "the truly valuable" in Kant / Thomas Ryckman -- Space, time, and geometry / Michael Friedman -- Einstein's politics / Robert Schulmann -- Appendix: Special relativity / Michel Janssen.;This volume is the first systematic presentation of the work of Albert Einstein, comprised of fourteen essays by leading historians and philosophers of science that introduce readers to his work. Following an introduction that places Einstein's work in the context of his life and times, the book opens with essays on the papers of Einstein's "miracle year," 1905, covering Brownian motion, light quanta, and special relativity, as well as his contributions to early quantum theory and the opposition to his light quantum hypothesis. Further essays relate Einstein's path to the general theory of relativity (1915) and the beginnings of two fields it spawned, relativistic cosmology and gravitational waves. Essays on Einstein's later years examine his unified field theory program and his critique of quantum mechanics. The closing essays explore the relation between Einstein's work and twentieth-century philosophy, as well as his political writings.