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Ehrenfest's Library :: Einstein Manuscript Found in Leiden ¶ Updated

by Oui Sat Aug 20th, 2005 at 02:16:11 PM EST

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      ~ Cross-posted from BooMan Tribune ~

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      HOT NEWS!

     

University of Leiden -- Institute Lorentz :: Einstein archive

At the initiative of Paul Ehrenfest, a special chair in Leiden was created for Albert Einstein, enabling him to come to our university for short periods of his choosing. On October 27, 1920, Einstein began his new position with an inaugural address on ether and relativity theory. The yearly visits stopped when Einstein fled Europe in 1933. The position was formally terminated by the German occupation.

Reminiscenses of Einstein's visits to Leiden are described elsewhere. Here we present the three Einstein manuscripts preserved in our archives.
Read the story of their discovery (in dutch).

More to follow below the fold »»


<click on document for full manuscript>

Bose-Einstein condensate

Manuscript in Einstein's handwriting (dated December 1924), with editorial markup. It was evidently used by Einstein to correct the page proofs in early 1925 and then left behind in Leiden. The publication is in the proceedings of the Berlin Academy of Sciences. (The reprint shown here was Ehrenfest's copy.)

Page 2 of the manuscript reports the last scientific discovery of Einstein's career: the prediction of the new state of matter now called the Bose-Einstein condensate. (The 2001 Nobel prize went to its experimental observation in a cold dilute gas.)

The manuscript follows up on an earlier article, which is preserved in manuscript at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. That earlier work, however, does not yet contain the prediction of the condensation phenomenon.


Einstein and Ehrenfest (left) with his son Paul Jr., June 1920
Collection Museum Boerhaave   Link to virtual visit of museum!

As a tribute to dKos frontpager :: Plutonium Page!  
Perhaps she will add a pied-a-terre in the city of Dutch Physics and Kamerlingh Onnes.

NRC August 20, 2005

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Update [2005-8-22 4:20:7 by Oui]:

See some fine comments with additional links to Einstein’s manuscripts world wide.

Einstein Gallery and Jewish National & University Library

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Relativity

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No, time is not constant and when you approach the speed of light you will not age relative to your time frame in the universe at planet earth.

Please don't ask me to explain, although it's the year of Einstein -
PP studied for it - so best throw her the questions. Thanks.

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'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sat Aug 20th, 2005 at 02:21:07 PM EST
Thanks for pointing me to your diary (I just saw your comment reply to one of mine at dKos).

This is fascinating.

by Plutonium Page (page dot vlinders at gmail dot com) on Sat Aug 20th, 2005 at 05:15:25 PM EST
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I know you'll love to browse in this stuff - enjoy!
Leiden ain't that bad - lots of history -
see also Huygens diary.   <2nd link>

It is well known that Einstein's religious credo was inspired by that of Spinoza. In his book on "Einstein and Religion", Max Jammer writes:

    The philosopher whom Einstein admired most was Baruch (later, Benedictus) Spinoza, the seventeenth-century Jewish philosopher, who was excommunicated by the Amsterdam synagogue and declined the Heidelberg professorship in order to live as a lens grinder, leading an independent life dedicated to philosophical reflections.... Einstein was most influenced by Spinoza's thesis of an unrestricted determinism and the belief in the existence of a superior intelligence that reveals itself in the harmony and beauty of nature.


    Baruch Spinoza

The earliest recorded reference of Einstein to Spinoza is a poem from 1920. We are not used to think of Einstein as a poet, and one may wonder what triggered his poetic expression in that year. Here I offer a speculation, based on an unexpected discovery made during a recent visit to a little house in the village of Rijnsburg, just outside Leiden.

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'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sat Aug 20th, 2005 at 05:46:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
I always thought Spinoza spent most of his life in Leiden, but it turns out he merely lived for two years in nearby Rijnsburg. (Anyway, Leiden happens to be my favorite town in the Netherlands, and Spinoza and Einstein are two of my intellectual heroes ;- So thanks for this neat diary!)  

If you can't convince them, confuse them. (Harry S. Truman)
by brainwave on Sun Aug 21st, 2005 at 02:01:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
As my family has ties with the University of Leiden I used to hear stories about Einstein.The uncle of a friend of mine received extra lessons in math from Einstein, together with a son of Ehrenfest (?). He remembered that problems became clear and simple when Einstein explained them. Also, he still saw Einstein and Ehrenfest trough a low window, discussing for hours on end, writing furiously on a blackboard. Einstein wore a turtleneck sweater on such occasions, which was somewhat bizar in that era.
by JUDGE on Sun Aug 21st, 2005 at 03:34:23 AM EST
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Appreciate this comment, especially as it's your debut contribution here at EuroTrib - or at BooMan's as well!

Amazing to find these intellectuals residing in the community of Leiden, such a wonderful historic place - Pilgrim Fathers and resistence to the Spanish siege October 3, 1574 as well as founding of University on February 8, 1575. A mere 201 years before the founding of the United States.


<click on pic :: site with lots of historic info>

Rembrandt van Rhyn

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'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sun Aug 21st, 2005 at 04:18:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]
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When I started diary, yahoo had no news items available on topic.
At last today, the MSM have picked up on amazing story and have written articles on find of manuscript.

Heh - you read it first at European Tribune - you bet!

Einstein Gallery and Jewish National & University Library

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'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Sun Aug 21st, 2005 at 04:56:38 PM EST


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