Renn J. (ed.) The Genesis of General Relativity: Sources and Interpretations. Vol. 3 and 4

Springer, 2007. — 1152 p.This four-volume work represents the most comprehensive documentation and study of the creation of general relativity; one of the fundamental physical theories of the 20th century. It contains the direct facsimile, transcript and explanation of and comments on the Einstein Zurich Notebook as written in 1912. The research by Einstein herein forms a pivotal part of his creation of the theory of General Relativity (1915) from Special Relativity (1905) and Newton's law of gravitation. Additional sources from Einstein and others who from the late 19th to the early 20th century contributed to this monumental development sources are presented here in translation for the first time. The volumes offer detailed commentaries and analyses of these sources that are based on a close reading of these documents supplemented by interpretations by the leading historians of relativity. All in all, the facets of this work, based on more than a decade of research, combine to constitute one of the most in-depth studies of a scientific revolution ever written.Gravitation in the Twilight of Classical Physics: An Introduction (by Jürgen Renn and Matthias Schemmel).
The Gravitational Force between Mechanics and Electrodynamics
The Third Way to General Relativity: Einstein and Mach in Context (by Jürgen Renn).
Source text 1901: Gravitation (by Jonathan Zenneck).
Source text 1900: Considerations on Gravitation (by Hendrik A. Lorentz).
Source text 1896: Absolute or Relative Motion? (by Benedict and Immanuel Friedlaender).
Source text 1904: On Absolute and Relative Motion (by August Föppl).
An Astronomical Road to a New Theory of Gravitation
The Continuity between Classical and Relativistic Cosmology in the Work of Karl Schwarzschild (by Matthias Schemmel).
Source text 1897: Things at Rest in the Universe (by Karl Schwarzschild).
A New Law of Gravitation Enforced by Special Relativity
Breaking in the 4-Vectors: the Four-Dimensional Movement in Gravitation, 1905–1910 (by Scott Walter).
Source text 1906: On the Dynamics of the Electron (Excerpts) (by Henri Poincaré).
Source text 1908: Mechanics and the Relativity Postulate (by Hermann Minkowski).
Source text 1910: Old and New Questions in Physics (Excerpt) (by Hendrik A. Lorentz).
The Problem of Gravitation as a Challenge for the Minkowski Formalism
The Summit Almost Scaled: Max Abraham as a Pioneer of a Relativistic Theory of Gravitation (by Jürgen Renn).
Source text 1912: On the Theory of Gravitation (by Max Abraham).
Source text 1912: The Free Fall (by Max Abraham).
Source text 1913: A New Theory of Gravitation (by Max Abraham).
Source text 1915: Recent Theories of Gravitation (by Max Abraham).
A Field Theory of Gravitation in the Framework of Special Relativity
Einstein, Nordström, and the Early Demise of Scalar, Lorentz Covariant Theories of Gravitation (by John D. Norton).
Source text 1912: The Principle of Relativity and Gravitation (by Gunnar Nordström).
Source text 1913: Inertial and Gravitational Mass in Relativistic Mechanics (by Gunnar Nordström).
Source text 1913: On the Theory of Gravitation from the Standpoint of the Principle of Relativity (by Gunnar Nordström).
Source text 1913: On the Present State of the Problem of Gravitation (by Albert Einstein).
From Heretical Mechanics to a New Theory of Relativity
Einstein and Mach’s Principle (by Julian B. Barbour).
Source text 1914: On the Relativity Problem (by Albert Einstein).
Source text 1920: Ether and the Theory of Relativity (by Albert Einstein).
From an Electromagnetic Theory of Matter to a New Theory of Gravitation
Mie’s Theories of Matter and Gravitation (by Christopher Smeenk and Christopher Martin).
Source text 1912–1913: Foundations of a Theory of Matter (Excerpts) (by Gustav Mie).
Source text 1914: Remarks Concerning Einstein’s Theory of Gravitation (by Gustav Mie).
Source text 1915: The Principle of the Relativity of the Gravitational Potential (by Gustav Mie).
Source text 1913: The Momentum-Energy Law in the Electrodynamics of Gustav Mie (by Max Born).
Including Gravitation in a Unified Theory of Physics
The Origin of Hilbert’s Axiomatic Method (by Leo Corry).
Hilbert’s Foundation of Physics: From a Theory of Everything to a Constituent of General Relativity (by Jürgen Renn and John Stachel).
Einstein Equations and Hilbert Action: What is Missing on Page 8 of the Proofs for Hilbert’s First Communication on the Foundations of Physics? (by Tilman Sauer).
Source text 1915: The Foundations of Physics (Proofs of First Communication) (by David Hilbert).
Source text 1916: The Foundations of Physics (First Communication) (by David Hilbert).
Source text 1917: The Foundations of Physics (Second Communication) (by David Hilbert).
From Peripheral Mathematics to a New Theory of Gravitation
The Story of Newstein or: Is Gravity just another Pretty Force? (by John Stachel).
Source text 1877: On the Relation of Non-Euclidean Geometry to Extension Theory (by Hermann Grassmann).
Source text 1916: Notion of Parallelism on a General Manifold and Consequent Geometrical Specification of the Riemannian Curvature (Excerpts) (by Tullio Levi-Civita).
Source text 1918: Purely Infinitesimal Geometry (Excerpt) (by Hermann Weyl).
Source text 1923: The Dynamics of Continuous Media and the Notion of an Affine Connection on Space-Time (by Elie Cartan).