THE FIRST COMPREHENSIVE PRESENTATION OF THE MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL IDEAS OF EINSTEIN

PAULI jun., W.

Relativitätstheorie. Sonderabdruck aus der Encyclopädie der Mathematischen Wissenschaften. Mit einem Vorwort von A. Somerfeld.

Leipzig u. Berlin, Teubner, 1921. Lex 8vo. Orig. hcloth w. gilt lettering to spine. Papercovered boards w. black lettering to front. Minor wear to extremities, and inner front hinge a bit weak, otherwise very nice, clean and well-preserved. Internally near mint. IV pp (i.e. the Preface of Somerfeld), pp. (539) - 775.

First edition, off-print, of Pauli's excellent monograph, which was published as the article on relativity theory in the highly estimated "Encyclopädie der Mathematischen Wissenschaften".

Wolfgang Pauli jr. (1900-1958) already in high school acquainted himself with Einstein's theory of relativity, when this was entirely new, and after having finished high school, he decided to study theoretical physics under Arnold Somerfeld, one of the leading scholars in the field at the time, in Munich. During this period Felix Klein was publishing the "Encyclopädie der Mathematischen Wissenschaften", and he asked Somerfeld to write the article on relativity theory for this highly esteemed publication. However, being very impressed by the abilities of his barely 20 year old student, Pauli jr., he asked him to carry out the task, and so he did. "Pauli soon completed a monograph of about 250 pages, which critically presented the mathematical foundations of the theory as well as its physical significance. He took thorough account of the already very considerable literature on the subject but at the same time clearly put forth his own interpretation. Despite the necessary brevity of discussion, he monograph is a superior introduction to the special and general theories of relativity; it is in addition a first-rate historical document of science, since, together with H. Weyl's "Raum, Zeit, Materie" it is the first comprehensive presentation of the mathematical and physical ideas of Einstein, who himself never wrote a large work about his theory.
Somerfeld was elated by his performance and wrote to Einstein that Pauli's article was "simply masterful" - and so it has remained to the present day. Pauli showed here for the first time his art of presenting science, which marks everything he wrote." (D.S.B. X:422)

Order-nr.: 36069