Einstein’s Epic Intellectual Journey: 1907 to 1915

Abstract

AbstractThere are several cases of what I call epic journeys in the history of science. Not Ulysses-like journeys on land and sea, but journeys of the mind. Kepler’s wrestling with data of the planet Mars, from which he deduced its elliptical orbit, was a solitary achievement of momentous consequent. In October 1601, upon the death of the observational astronomer extraordinaire, the Dane, Tycho Brahe, Kepler inherited Tycho’s job and the most up-to-date and detailed observational data of Mars ever. Probably early in 1602 he began his quest to calculate the orbit of Mars from Tycho’s data. Kepler wagered that he would finish the task in a few weeks; it took him over 3 years, during the course of which he called his struggle his “war with Mars.” He finally deduced the elliptical path of the planet around Easter 1605 – a truly epic journey, the details of which are still being scrutinized by historians poring over Kepler’s notes and writings. The same is true for Einstein’s struggle with formulating a gravitational theory of relativity, which too was nearly solitary over his 8-year slog.KeywordsSolar EclipseElliptical OrbitTensor EquationStraight WireCovariant RuleThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.