Relativity: The Special and General Theory
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein 2
Relativity: The Special and General Theory
Table of Contents
Written: 1916
Source: Relativity: The Special and General Theory © 1920
Publisher: Methuen & Co Ltd
First Published: December, 1916
Translated: Robert W. Lawson (Authorised translation)
Transcription/Markup/PDF: Brian Basgen
Copyleft: Einstein Reference Archive (marxists.org) 1999, 2002.
Permission is granted to copy and/or distribute this document under
the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.
(http://www.gnu.org/licenses/fdl.txt).
Preface
Part I: The Special Theory of Relativity
01. Physical Meaning of Geometrical Propositions
02. The System of Co-ordinates
03. Space and Time in Classical Mechanics
04. The Galileian System of Co-ordinates
05. The Principle of Relativity (in the Restricted Sense)
06. The Theorem of the Addition of Velocities employed in Classical Mechanics
07. The Apparent Incompatability of the Law of Propagation of Light with the
Principle of Relativity
08. On the Idea of Time in Physics
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09. The Relativity of Simultaneity
10. On the Relativity of the Conception of Distance
11. The Lorentz Transformation
12. The Behaviour of Measuring-Rods and Clocks in Motion
13. Theorem of the Addition of Velocities. The Experiment of Fizeau
14. The Hueristic Value of the Theory of Relativity
15. General Results of the Theory
16. Experience and the Special Theory of Relativity
17. Minkowski's Four-dimensial Space
Part II: The General Theory of Relativity
18. Special and General Principle of Relativity
19. The Gravitational Field
20. The Equality of Inertial and Gravitational Mass as an Argument for the General
Postulate of Relativity
21. In What Respects are the Foundations of Classical Mechanics and of the
Special Theory of Relativity Unsatisfactory?
22. A Few Inferences from the General Principle of Relativity
23. Behaviour of Clocks and Measuring-Rods on a Rotating Body of Reference
24. Euclidean and non-Euclidean Continuum
25. Gaussian Co-ordinates
26. The Space-Time Continuum of the Speical Theory of Relativity Considered as
a Euclidean Continuum
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27. The Space-Time Continuum of the General Theory of Realtivity is Not a
Euclidean Continuum
28. Exact Formulation of the General Principle of Relativity
29. The Solution of the Problem of Gravitation on the Basis of the General
Principle of Relativity
Part III: Considerations on the Universe as a Whole
30. Cosmological Difficulties of Newton's Theory
31. The Possibility of a "Finite" and yet "Unbounded" Universe
32. The Structure of Space According to the General Theory of Relativity
Appendices:
01. Simple Derivation of the Lorentz Transformation (sup. ch. 11)
02. Minkowski's Four-Dimensional Space ("World") (sup. ch 17)
03. The Experimental Confirmation of the General Theory of Relativity
04. The Structure of Space According to the General Theory of Relativity (sup. ch
32)
05. Relativity and the Problem of Space
Note: The fifth appendix was added by Einstein at the time of the fifteenth re-printing of this book; and
as a result is still under copyright restrictions so cannot be added without the permission of the publisher.
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Preface
(December, 1916)
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 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 withheld from the reader difficulties which are inherent to the subject.