:The Meaning of Relativity

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The book contains four of Einstein's Stafford Little Lectures that were given at Princeton University in 1921. The lectures follow a series of 1915 publications by Einstein developing the theory of general relativity.{{harvnb|Gutfreund|Renn|2017|loc=Foreword by Diana L. Kormos-Buchwald}} During this time, there were still many controversial issues surrounding the theories and he was still defending several of his views. The lectures and the subsequent book were Einstein's last attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of his theory of relativity. It is also his only book that provides an overview of the physics and mathematics of general relativity in a comprehensive manner that was accessible to non-specialists. Einstein explained his goal in the preface of the book's German edition by stating he "wanted to summarize the principal thoughts and mathematical methods of relativity theory" and that his "principal aim was to let the fundamentals in the entire train of thought of the theory emerge clearly".

On December 27, 1949, The New York Times ran a story titled "New Einstein theory gives a master key to the universe"{{cite news |last=Laurence |first=William L. |author-link=William L. Laurence |date=27 December 1949 |title=New Einstein Theory Gives A Master Key to Universe; Scientist, After 30 Years' Work, Evolves Concept That Promises to Bridge Gap Between the Star and the Atom |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |page=1 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1949/12/27/archives/new-einstein-theory-gives-a-master-key-to-universe-scientist-after.html |access-date=2020-11-27}} in reaction to the new appendix in the book's fifth edition in which Einstein expounded upon his latest unification efforts. Einstein had nothing to do with the article and subsequently refused to speak with any reporters on the matter; he reportedly used the message "[c]ome back and see me in twenty years" to brush off their inquiries.

The book is made of four lectures. The first is titled "Space and Time in Pre-Relativity Physics". The second lecture is titled The Theory of Special Relativity and discusses the special theory of relativity. The third and fourth lectures cover the general theory of relativity in two parts. Einstein added an appendix to update the book for its second edition, which published in 1945. A second appendix was later added for the fifth edition as well, in 1955, which discusses the nonsymmetric field. The second appendix contains Einstein's attempts at a unified field theory.{{harvnb|Pais|2005|loc=Section 17e}}

The book has received many reviews since its initial publication. The first edition of the book was reviewed by Nature in 1923.{{cite journal |date=May 1923 |title=The Mathematical Theory of Relativity The Principle of Relativity with Applications to Physical Science The Meaning of Relativity: Four Lectures delivered at Princeton University, May 1921 Modern Electrical Theory: Supplementary Chapters La Théorie de la relativité d'Einstein et ses bases physiques: exposé éléntaire The General Principle of Relativity in its Philosophical and Historical Aspect The Theory of General Relativity and Gravitation: Based on a Course of Lectures delivered at the Conference on Recent Advances in Physics held at the University of Toronto, in January 1921 The Mathematical Theory of Relativity Vector Analysis and the Theory of Relativity L'Évidence de la théorie d'Einstein |language=en |journal=Nature |issn=0028-0836 |volume=111 |issue=2795 |pages=697–699 |doi=10.1038/111697a0 |bibcode=1923Natur.111..697. |url=http://www.nature.com/articles/111697a0|url-access=subscription }} Other early versions of the book were reviewed by George Yuri Rainich in 1946,{{cite journal |last=Rainich |first=G. Y. |author-link=George Yuri Rainich |date=February 1946 |title=The Meaning of Relativity |journal=The American Mathematical Monthly |doi=10.2307/2305460 |jstor=2305460 |volume=53 |issue=2 |pages=93 |url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/2305460|url-access=subscription }} as well as Abraham H. Taub,{{cite journal |last=Taub |first=A. H. |author-link=Abraham H. Taub |date=September 1950 |title=The Meaning of Relativity |language=en |journal=American Journal of Physics |issn=0002-9505 |doi=10.1119/1.1932622 |bibcode=1950AmJPh..18..403E |volume=18 |issue=6 |pages=403–404 |url=http://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.1932622 }} Philip Morrison,{{cite journal |last=Morrison |first=Philip |author-link=Philip Morrison |date=November 1950 |title=The Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society; The Meaning of Relativity; Out of My Later Years and Albert Einstein: Philosopher‐Scientist |language=en |journal=Physics Today |issn=0031-9228 |doi=10.1063/1.3066685 |bibcode=1950PhT.....3k..30E |volume=3 |issue=11 |pages=30–32 |url=http://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.3066685|url-access=subscription }} and I. M. Levitt{{cite journal |last=Levitt |first=I. M. |date=April 1950 |title=The meaning of relativity |journal=Journal of the Franklin Institute|language=en |doi=10.1016/0016-0032(50)90991-4 |volume=249 |issue=4 |pages=334 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/0016003250909914|url-access=subscription }} in 1950. Reviews for the book's fifth edition include a short announcement in 1955 that called the book "a well-known classic".{{cite journal |last=L.R. |date=January 1956 |title=166 pages, $ 3.75 The meaning of relativity, A. Einstein, Fifth Edition, Princeton University Press, Evanston (1955) |language=en |journal=Nuclear Physics |doi=10.1016/S0029-5582(56)80091-6 |volume=1 |issue=8 |page=670 |url=https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0029558256800916|url-access=subscription }} A 1956 review of the fifth edition summarizes its publication history and contents and closes by stating "Einstein's little book then serves as an excellent tying-together of loose ends and as a broad survey of the subject."{{cite journal |last=Cohen |first=E. R. |date=October 1956 |title=The Meaning of Relativity |language=en |journal=Physics Today |issn=0031-9228 |doi=10.1063/1.3059795 |bibcode=1956PhT.....9j..30E |volume=9 |issue=10 |pages=30–32 |url=http://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.3059795|url-access=subscription }}

Among other references to the book, a 2005 column of The Physics Teacher, included the work in a list of books "by and about Einstein that all physics teachers should have" and "should have immediate access to",{{cite journal |last=Hubisz |first=John L. |date=October 2005 |title=MicroReviews by the Book Review Editor: The Meaning of Relativity: Including the Relativistic Theory of the Non-Symmetric Field (5th edition): Albert Einstein |journal=The Physics Teacher |issn=0031-921X |doi=10.1119/1.2060662 |bibcode=2005PhTea..43U.480H |volume=43 |issue=7 |pages=480 |url=http://aapt.scitation.org/doi/10.1119/1.2060662|url-access=subscription }} while a 2019 review of another work opened by stating: "Every teacher of General Relativity depends heavily on two texts: one, the massive Gravitation by Misner, Thorne and Wheeler, the second the diminutive The Meaning of Relativity by Einstein." The Meaning of Relativity is the focus of a 2017 book, The Formative Years of Relativity by Hanoch Gutfreund and Jürgen Renn,{{cite journal |last=Rowe |first=David E. |author-link=David E. Rowe |date=March 2019 |title=Hanoch Gutfreund; Jürgen Renn. The Formative Years of Relativity: The History and Meaning of Einstein's Princeton Lectures . xiv + 415 pp., figs., index. Princeton, N.J./Oxford: Princeton University Press, 2017. $35 (cloth). ISBN 9781400888689.Galina Weinstein. Einstein's Pathway to the Special Theory of Relativity . Second edition. xv + 642 pp., bibl., notes, index. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017. £80.99 (cloth). ISBN 9781443895125. |language=en |journal=Isis |issn=0021-1753 |doi=10.1086/702513 |volume=110 |issue=1 |pages=201–204 |url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/702513|url-access=subscription }}{{cite journal |last=Gilmore |first=Gerard |author-link=Gerard F. Gilmore |date=3 April 2019 |title=The formative years of relativity: the history and meaning of Einstein's Princeton lectures: by H. Gutfreund and J. Renn, Princeton and Oxford, Princeton University Press, 2017, 432 pp., £27.00(hardback), ISBN 978-069-1174-63-1. Scope: general interest. Level: general readership. |journal=Contemporary Physics |issn=0010-7514 |doi=10.1080/00107514.2019.1641155 |s2cid=199117913 |volume=60 |issue=2 |pages=208–209 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00107514.2019.1641155|url-access=subscription }}{{cite news |last=Ryerson |first=James |date=2017-08-25 |title=The Chirps and Ripples in the Universe That Prove Einstein Was Right (Published 2017) |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/25/books/review/einstein-relativity-theory-gravitational-waves.html |access-date=2020-11-27}} which described The Meaning of Relativity as "Einstein's definitive exposition of his special and general theories of relativity".{{harvnb|Gutfreund|Renn|2017|p=3}}

• {{cite book |last1=Einstein |first1=Albert |last2=Adams |first2=Edwin Plimpton |date=1922 |title=The Meaning of Relativity: Four Lectures Delivered at Princeton Univ., May, 1921 |edition=1st |publisher=Methuen Publishing |location=London |oclc=637254801 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/637254801}}
• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |date=1945 |title=The Meaning of Relativity |edition=2nd |language=en |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, N.J. |oclc=1105547540 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1105547540}}
• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |date=1950 |title=The Meaning of Relativity |edition=3rd |language=en |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |oclc=1304366 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1304366}}
• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |date=1953 |title=The Meaning of Relativity: Including the Generalization of Gravitation Theory |edition=4th |language=en |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton, N.J. |oclc=946162394 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/946162394}}
• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |date=1955 |title=The meaning of relativity: including the relativistic theory of the non-symmetric field |language=en |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=9780691080079 |oclc=177301011 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/177301011}}

• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |others=Foreword by William Hunter McCrea |date=1967 |title=The meaning of relativity |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |location=Dordrecht |isbn=978-94-011-6022-3 |oclc=858949974 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/858949974}}
• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |others=Introduction by Brian Greene |date=2014 |title=The Meaning of Relativity: Including the Relativistic Theory of the Non-symmetric Field |edition=5th paperback |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0-6911-6408-3 |oclc=884013779 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/884013779}}
• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |others=Introduction by Brian Greene |date=2014 |title=The Meaning of Relativity: Including the Relativistic Theory of the Non-symmetric Field |edition=5th eBook |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-1-4008-5187-4 |oclc=884013779 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/884013779}}

• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |date=1922 |title=Vier Vorlesungen über Relativitätstheorie: gehalten im Mai 1921 an der Universität Princeton |language=de |publisher=Friedrich Vieweg |location=Braunschweig |oclc=2602048 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/2602048}}
• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |date=1923 |title=Vier Vorlesungen über Relativitätstheorie: gehalten im Mai 1912 an der Universität Princeton |language=de |publisher=Friedrich Vieweg |location=Braunschweig |oclc=703134729 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/703134729}}
• {{cite book |last1=Einstein |first1=Albert |last2=Bargmann |first2=Valentine |author2-link=Valentine Bargmann |date=1956 |title=Grundzüge der Relativitätstheorie |language=de |edition=3rd |publisher=Friedrich Vieweg |oclc=73339958 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/73339958}}
• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |date=1965 |title=Grundzüge der Relativitätstheorie |language=de |edition=4th |publisher=Friedrich Vieweg |location=Braunschweig |oclc=257683026 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/257683026}}
• {{cite book |last1=Einstein |first1=Albert |last2=Treder |first2=Hans-Jürgen |author2-link=Hans-Jürgen Treder |last3=Bargmann |first3=Valentine |author3-link=Valentine Bargmann |date=1969 |title=Grundzüge der Relativitätstheorie |language=de |publisher=Friedrich Vieweg |isbn=978-3-528-06058-9 |oclc=263642156 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/263642156}}
• {{cite book |last=Einstein |first=Albert |date=2009 |title=Grundzüge der Relativitätstheorie |language=de |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |isbn=978-3-540-87846-9 |oclc=298553863 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/298553863}}

{{Portal|Books|Physics}}

• List of scientific publications by Albert Einstein
• Annus Mirabilis papers
• History of general relativity
• History of special relativity

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• {{cite book |last1=Gutfreund |first1=Hanoch |author1-link=Hanoch Gutfreund |last2=Renn |first2=Jürgen |author2-link=Jürgen Renn |date=2017 |title=The formative years of relativity: the history and meaning of Einstein's Princeton lectures |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-1-4008-8868-9 |oclc=1003930955 |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1003930955}}
• {{cite book |last=Pais |first=Abraham |author-link=Abraham Pais |others=Foreword by Roger Penrose |date=2005 |title=Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Oxford |isbn=978-0-19-152402-8 |oclc=646798828}}

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• {{wikiquote-inline}}
• [https://press.princeton.edu/books/paperback/9780691164083/the-meaning-of-relativity The Meaning of Relativity] 5th edition at Princeton University Press
• [https://www.jstor.org/stable/j.ctv3hh4zg The Meaning of Relativity] 5th edition at JSTOR
• [https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9780412205606 The Meaning of Relativity] at Springer Link
• [https://blogs.sciencemag.org/books/2017/08/22/the-formative-years-of-relativity/ An insightful tome recounts the heady early days of general relativity] review by Andrew Robinson at sciencemag.org

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