Karl Bollert
Life and work
He studied in Rostock and obtained the doctorate in 1904 by writing a thesis on geometry called Über konzentrische Flächen zweiter Ordnung. In 1907 he became senior teacher at the Höhere Mädchenschule in Berlin-Schöneberg.Programm Berlin Joachimsthalsches Gymnasium 1907, in: Franz Kössler: Personenlexikon von Lehrer des 19. Jahrhunderts, Gießen 2008, {{doi|10.22029/jlupub-17233}} He was a member of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft from 1923 to 1933.[https://www.dpg-physik.de/ueber-uns/profil-und-selbstverstaendnis/archiv-der-dpg/pdf/mitgliederverzeichnis_1845_1945-gesamt.pdf List of members of Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft 1845-1945]
From 1921 to 1923 he wrote several works related to the theory of relativity, including the description of uniformly accelerated frames now called Rindler coordinates,{{Cite journal|author=Karl Bollert|year=1922|title= Das homogene Gravitationsfeld und die Lorentztransformationen|journal=Zeitschrift für Physik|volume=10|issue=1|pages=256–266|doi=10.1007/BF01332567|bibcode=1922ZPhy...10..256B|s2cid=122965400}}{{Cite journal|author=Karl Bollert|year=1923|title=Die Entstehung der Lorentzverkürzung und die strenge Behandlung des Uhrenparadoxons|journal=Zeitschrift für Physik|volume=12|issue=1|pages=189–206|doi=10.1007/BF01328090|bibcode=1923ZPhy...12..189B|s2cid=120603392}} and philosophically interpreted relativity in terms of neo-Kantianism in his book Einstein’s Relativitätstheorie und ihre Stellung im System der Gesamterfahrung (1921){{citation |author=Karl Bollert|title=Einstein's Relativitätstheorie und ihre Stellung im System der Gesamterfahrung |date=April 1921 |publisher=Steinkopff|url=https://dbc.wroc.pl/dlibra/publication/1504/edition/1708?language=en}} as well as in another article.{{Cite journal|author=Karl Bollert|year=1923|title=Die Apriorität von Raum und Zeit in der Relativitätstheorie|journal=Zeitschrift für Physik|volume=15|issue=1–2 |pages=126–152|doi=10.1007/BF01330466|bibcode=1923ZPhy...15..126B }} Reviewing Bollert's book, Hans Reichenbach (1922) argued that its description of relativity is "short and good", and regarding the philosophical part he added that Bollert's introduction of "objectivation steps" is remarkable.{{Cite journal|author=Reichenbach, H.|year=1922|title=Review of "Einstein's Relativitätstheorie und ihre Stellung im System der Gesamterfahrung"|journal=Physikalische Berichte|volume=3|issue=8|pages=360|url=https://archive.org/details/physics-briefs-physikalische-berichte_1922-04-15_3_8/page/360/mode/2up}} Ernst Cassirer (1929) argued that Bollert showed how relativity can serve to confirm Neokantian views.{{citation |author=Cassirer, E.|title=Philosophy of Symbolic Forms Vol. Three: The Phenomenology of Knowledge |page=560|year=2020 |orig-year=1929|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=9781000001112}}
An analysis of Bollert's philosophical take on relativity was given in German language by Hentschel (1990).See p. 232f in {{Cite book | author=Hentschel, K. | year=1990 | title=Interpretationen und Fehlinterpretationen der speziellen und der allgemeinen Relativitätstheorie durch Zeitgenossen Albert Einsteins | location=Basel—Boston—Bonn | publisher=Birkhäuser | doi=10.18419/opus-7182 | isbn=978-3-7643-2438-4 | url=http://elib.uni-stuttgart.de/opus/volltexte/2010/5175/ }} In English language, the article "Early Philosophical Interpretations of General Relativity" in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy devotes an entire paragraph to Bollert's interpretation of Kantian a priorism and relativity theory.{{citation|author=Ryckman, Thomas A.|contribution=Early Philosophical Interpretations of General Relativity|title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2024 Edition)|year=2024|editor=Edward N. Zalta & Uri Nodelman|contribution-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/sum2024/entries/genrel-early}}