The Einstein Papers Project began publishing The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein in 1987. It has published 12 volumes to date; each volume is a scholarly, annotated, print and electronic edition of the writings and correspondence of Albert Einstein (1879-1955). The project aims to provide complete and widely available access to a massive written legacy that authoritatively documents the most important developments in 20th century science and technology in the context of profound social and political transformations. This award would support work to collect, digitize, research, edit, translate, and eventually publish several additional volumes of Einstein's work and letters from the period 1923 to 1933, and to expand and improve the free electronic, searchable availability of Einstein-related original documents and scholarly material
Intellectual Merit
The award would make possible the publication of more than 100 scientific and non-scientific articles, lectures, notebooks, diaries, interviews and speeches by Einstein during the ten year period indicated above. Some 1200 letters by and to him are to be published as full text together with the detailed explanations, annotations, and other apparatus. The additional elements will serve to provide proper context to and understanding of his work on major topics in physics during this period, such as far-reaching developments and controversies in quantum mechanics regarding the nature of matter and energy. Needless to say, this is a critical period in Einstein's career. At this juncture, he fully emerges as the preeminent scientist of the era, as a world figure engaged in international reconciliation among former enemy nations, and an admired humanitarian in the context of interactions around the globe with leading scientific and political figures, fellow physicists, astronomers, mathematicians, and engineers.
Potential Broader Impacts
The Einstein Papers Project aims not only to uncover unknown or unpublished documents related to Einstein's life and work, it also aims to explain and contextualize in great detail (on the basis of extremely rich and untapped sources and the most up-to-date scholarly literature and methods) the development of scientific and technological practice, innovation, and dissemination. The Collected Papers is the product of interdisciplinary team-work, employing the expertise of a multi-lingual group of researchers in science, history, philosophy, linguistic and mathematical techniques. Its broader aims include providing a deeper understanding of modern scientific communities, the sources and practices of scientific and humanist teaching, publication, communication, and collaboration. The Project supports and enhances teaching and training of undergraduate, doctoral, and post-doctoral students, and relies upon international collaboration among various institutions, scholars and scientists. The free electronic version of the Collected Papers is a widely available and valuable resource for the study of the modern era. It has and will continue to serve generations of scholars, scientists, engineers, writers, journalists, science policy makers, educators, students, and artists.
publishes Einstein's scientific, professional, and personal papers, including articles, notebooks, diaries, drafts, previously published and unpublished articles and books, as well as correspondence. The goal is to present the corpus of available material in a scholarly, annotated standardized edition in the original language and in English language translation. The volumes present the most recent results in scholarship on Einstein, on the development of physics, mathematics, and astronomy in the 20th century and on the political, social, educational, developments in which Einstein was a major participant. The editors completed 2 volumes in the series and the 2 English language translation companion volumes. Princeton University Press was the publisher: 1. Volume 13: The Berlin Years: Writings & Correspondence, January 1922 - March 1923 (Documentary Edition). Edited by Diana Kormos Buchwald, József Illy, Ze'ev Rosenkranz, & Tilman Sauer. ISBN: 9780691156736. 2. Volume 13: The Berlin Years: Writings & Correspondence, January 1922 - March 1923 (English Translation Supplement). Edited by Diana Kormos Buchwald, József Illy, Ze'ev Rosenkranz, & Tilman Sauer.Translated by Ann M. Hentschel & Osik Moses. Klaus Hentschel, consultant. ISBN: 9780691156743 3. Volume 14: The Berlin Years: Writings & Correspondence, April 1923–May 1925 (Documentary Edition). Edited by Diana Kormos Buchwald, József Illy, Ze’ev Rosenkranz, Tilman Sauer & Osik Moses. ISBN: 9780691164106. 4. Volume 14: The Berlin Years: Writings & Correspondence, April 1923–May 1925 (English Translation Supplement). Edited by Diana Kormos Buchwald, József Illy, Ze’ev Rosenkranz, Tilman Sauer & Osik Moses. Translated by Ann M. Hentschel & Jennifer Nollar James. Klaus Hentschel, consultant. ISBN: 9780691164229. The Einstein Papers Project, in collaboration with the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, completed a major revision of the Einstein Archives Database and made all 80,000 records of documents available online for free at www.alberteinstein.info website which currently contains 3,000 original high-quality scans, many accompanied by full text searchable transcriptions and translations. The site experienced traffic of 36 million hits and half a million individual users from 172 countries. The editors also completed work on the DIGITAL EINSTEIN edition of the entire printed series, scheduled for launch in late 2014, and the Google Cultural online exhibit on Einstein. At the opening of Volume 13, Einstein is lecturing in Paris, engaged in reestablishing ties among scientists in former enemy nations. In June, the brutal murder of his friend, Germany’s foreign minister Walther Rathenau, heavily affects Einstein who fears for his own safety and briefly contemplates leaving Berlin and abandoning academia. When a few months later it is announced that he won the Nobel Prize, Einstein is on a steamer to Japan. Although he knew in advance of the coming prize, he nevertheless embarked on his longest voyage yet. His travel diary, published here for the first time, recounts the hectic schedule and his musings on science, philosophy, and art during his first encounter with the Far East, Palestine, and Spain. Einstein’s work and intense scientific exchanges—with N. Bohr, P. Ehrenfest, A. Sommerfeld, M. Born, and others—results in remarkable publications. A paper written with Ehrenfest shows that the outcome of the recent Stern-Gerlach experiment could not be explained by either classical or quantum theory. He focuses on the conceptual bases on quantum theory, tirelessly proposing crucial experiments that could decide between classical and quantum physics. Foundational interests develop in his concerns with a unified field theory. In the almost 100 writings and more than 1,000 letters included in Volume 14, Einstein is revealed as the consummate puzzler of myriad scientific problems and the invested participant in social and political engagements. In the fall of 1923, Einstein endures a "cheerful banishment" in Leyden after suddenly fleeing Berlin due to anti-Semitic violence and rumored threats to his life. He rejoins the International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation and promotes the idea of a European union, while his support for the establishment of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem finally bears fruit with its inauguration in April 1925. As a "traveler in relativity", Einstein embarks on a lecture tour in South America. Einstein continues his attempts at formulating a unified theory of gravitation and electromagnetism, and explores ideas on the light quantum. He collaborates with experimentalists in trying to find an explanation for earth’s magnetic field. In June 1924, S. N. Bose sends Einstein a paper with a new derivation of Planck’s radiation law, whose significance Einstein immediatelt realizes. Building on Bose’s new approach, Einstein develops a new quantum theory of the ideal gas, effectively introducing a new kind of statistics for indistinguishable material particles. In two book reviews he resists attempts by philosophers to reconcile Kantian philosophy with relativity theory. The project has continued its research and training in historical, editorial, archival and digital methods, as well as new software training of U.S. and international students and visiting scholars.
