The Essential Einstein: Public Writings

Albert Einstein

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The Essential Einstein: Public Writings

Albert Einstein
Edited by: Diana Kormos Buchwald and Tilman Sauer

Language: English

Published/Copyright: 2025

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View more publications by Princeton University Press

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About this book

The ultimate collection of Einstein’s public writings on everything from religion and art to pacifism and the atomic bomb

The Essential Einstein: Public Writings presents a rich selection of Einstein’s humanistic writings drawn from a diverse array of materials he sanctioned for publication during his lifetime. Distinct from previous collections, this incisive book presents previously excerpted works in their entirety, including key articles, lectures, and speeches. These writings delve into significant topics such as philosophy, religion, and art, but also specific important and often contentious issues in education, politics, disarmament, pacifism, international cooperation, the atomic bomb, and Zionism. Among these works, readers will find the brilliant “Notes for an Autobiography” alongside selected popular science articles, which offer a profound understanding of Einstein’s ethical and political worldview.

The Essential Einstein is a two-volume compendium offering general readers and specialists alike a comprehensive resource on the pivotal writings of Albert Einstein. Organized chronologically by leading authorities on Einstein and his work, this collection illuminates the evolution of Einstein’s scientific and humanistic ideas throughout his life. Each selection is accompanied by explanatory notes that detail the work’s background and significance.

Together with The Essential Einstein: Scientific Writings, this authoritative collection invites a deeper engagement with the intellectual legacy and enduring influence of Albert Einstein.

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	v
Introduction to the Public Writings Publicly Available Download PDF	xi
1. On the Principle of Relativity (1914) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	1
2. Inaugural Lecture at the Prussian Academy of Sciences (1914) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	4
3. Manifesto to the Europeans (1914) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	7
4. Ernst Mach (1916) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	10
5. My Opinion on the War (1916) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	17
6. The Nightmare (1917) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	20
7. Motives for Research (1918) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	21
8. Dialogue about Objections to the Theory of Relativity (1921) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	24
9. Time, Space, and Gravitation (1919) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	34
10. Induction and Deduction in Physics (1919) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	39
11. Immigration from the East (1919) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	41
12. Uproar in the Lecture Hall/An Explanation (1920) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	43
13. A Confession (1920) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	44
14. Ether and the Theory of Relativity (1920) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	46
15. To the General Association for Popular Technical Education (1920) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	57
16. On New Sources of Energy (1920) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	58
17. My Response: On the Anti-Relativity Company (1920) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	60
18. On the Contribution of Intellectuals to International Reconciliation (1920) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	63
19. The Common Element in Artistic and Scientific Experience (1921) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	65
20. Geometry and Experience (1921) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	65
21. How I Became a Zionist (1921) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	78
22. The Development and Present Position of the Theory of Relativity (1921) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	83
23. On a Jewish Palestine (1921) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	86
24. The Impact of Science on the Development of Pacifism (1921) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	89
25. The Plight of German Science: A Danger for the Nation (1921) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	90
26. Preface to Bertrand Russell’s Political Ideals (1922) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	92
27. Review of Wolfgang Pauli, The Theory of Relativity (1922) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	93
28. In Memoriam Walther Rathenau (1922) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	94
29. On the Present Crisis of Theoretical Physics (1922) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	96
30. Musings on My Impressions in Japan (1923) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	102
31. My Impressions of Palestine (1923) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	107
32. Antisemitism and Academic Youth (1923) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	110
33. Review of Josef Winternitz’s Relativity Theory and Epistemology (1923) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	112
34. Sound Recording for the Prussian State Library (1924) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	115
35. The Compton Experiment: Does Science Exist for Its Own Sake? (1924) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	116
36. On the League of Nations (1924) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	121
37. Review of Alfred C. Elsbach’s Kant and Einstein (1924) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	123
38. Non-Euclidean Geometry and Physics (1925) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	130
39. Introductory Letter to Letters from Russian Prisons (1925) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	135
40. Why Zionism/A Message (1925) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	136
41. Pan-Europe (1925) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	138
42. The Mission of the Hebrew University/ A Word for the Journey (1925) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	141
43. On Ideals (1925) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	143
44. Space-Time, Encyclopædia Britannica (1926) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	146
45. New Experiments on the Effect of the Earth’s Motion on Light Velocity with Respect to the Earth (1927) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	157
46. Speech at Rally for the Keren Ha-Yesod in Berlin (1926) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	160
47. Newton’s Mechanics and Its Influence on the Formation of Theoretical Physics (1927) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	161
48. Review of Émile Meyerson’s La Déduction Relativiste (1928) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	169
49. The New Field Theory (1929) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	174
50. Einstein Believes in Spinoza’s God (1929) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	183
51. The Palestine Troubles (1929) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	185
52. To a Young Scholar (1929) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	192
53. What I Believe: Living Philosophies XIII (1930) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	193
54. Religion and Science (1930) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	197
55. Militant Pacifism/The Two Percent Speech (1930) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	201
56. Some Remarks Concerning My American Impressions (1931) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	203
57. The 1932 Disarmament Conference (1931) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	206
58. To American Negroes (1932) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	208
59. Why War? (1932) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	210
60. Is There a Jewish Philosophy? (1932) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	213
61. Statement on Hitler upon Leaving Pasadena (1933) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	215
62. Letter of Resignation from the Prussian Academy of Sciences (1933) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	216
63. Militant Pacifism No More (1933) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	217
64. On the Method of Theoretical Physics/The Herbert Spencer Lecture (1933) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	218
65. Science and Civilization/The Albert Hall Speech (1933) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	225
66. Foreword to “The Contribution of the Jews of Germany to German Civilization” (1933) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	228
67. On Germany and Hitler (1935) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	230
68. Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1936) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	231
69. The Calling of the Jews (1936) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	236
70. Why Do They Hate the Jews? (1938) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	238
71. Our Debt to Zionism (1938) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	245
72. Ten Fateful Years: Living Philosophies, Revised (1938) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	247
73. Letter to Franklin D. Roosevelt (1939) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	250
74. Freedom and Science (1940) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	252
75. The Common Language of Science (1942) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	255
76. Newton’s 300th Birthday (1942) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	258
77. Remarks on Bertrand Russell’s Theory of Knowledge (1944) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	262
78. To the Heroes of the Battle of the Warsaw Ghetto (1944) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	268
79. On the Atomic Bomb (1945) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	269
80. On the American Council for Judaism (1945) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	274
81. Commemorative Words for Franklin D. Roosevelt (1945) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	275
82. The Way Out (1946) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	277
83. Foreword to Spinoza: Portrait of a Spiritual Hero (1946) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	281
84. A Message to My Adopted Country (1946) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	283
85. The Military Mentality (1947) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	285
86. In the Shadow of the Atomic Bomb (1947) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	287
87. A Plea for International Understanding (1947) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	289
88. Quantum Mechanics and Reality (1948) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	291
89. A Reply to the Soviet Scientists (1948) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	296
90. Religion and Science: Irreconcilable? (1948) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	302
91. Why Socialism? (1949) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	305
92. Autobiographical Notes (1949) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	312
93. Statement to the Society for Social Responsibility in Science (1950) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	353
94. Letter Declining the Presidency of Israel (1952) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	354
95. Elementary Considerations on the Interpretation of the Foundations of Quantum Mechanics (1953) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	355
96. Recollections–Souvenirs (1955) Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	361
Bibliography Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	369
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed	375

Publishing information

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

eBook published on:

September 23, 2025

eBook ISBN:

9780691272191

Pages and Images/Illustrations in book

https://doi.org/10.1515/9780691272191

eBook ISBN: 9780691272191

Keywords for this book

history of science; history of physics; philosophy of physics; quantum theory; relativity theory; statistical physics; EPR paradox; astronomy; cosmology; unified field theory; pacifism; education; peace; disarmament; civil rights; atomic bomb; League of Nations; Israel; Palestine; Zionism; refugees; Nazism; Fascism; antimilitarism; antisemitism; World War I; World War II; Communism; Socialism; McCarthyism; countries; Germany; Austria; France; Italy; England; Russia; Soviet Union; China; Japan; South America; Albert Einstein; humanistic writings; public writings; Essential Einstein; philosophy; religion; art; politics; international cooperation; autobiography; popular science; ethical worldview; political worldview; scientific writings; intellectual legacy; chronological organization; explanatory notes; Einstein authorities; comprehensive resource; general readers; specialists; pivotal writings; evolution of ideas; scientific ideas; humanistic ideas; Einstein's work; background significance; two-volume compendium; authoritative collection

Audience(s) for this book

For a non-specialist adult audience

The Essential Einstein: Public Writings

Overview

About this book

Topics

Table of contents

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