The Einstein Theory of Relativity

The action of the Royal Society at its meeting in

London on November 6, in recognizing Dr. Al-

bert Einstein's “theory of relativity” has caused

a great stir in scientific circles on both sides of

the Atlantic. Dr. Einstein propounded his theory

nearly fifteen years ago. The present revival of

interest in it is due to the remarkable confirm-

ation which it received in the report of the ob-

servations made during the sun's eclipse of last

May to determine whether rays of light passing

close to the sun are deflected from their course.

The actual deflection of the rays that was

discovered by the astronomers was precisely

what had been predicted theoretically by Ein-

stein many years since. This striking confirma-

tion has led certain German scientists to assert

that no scientific discovery of such importance

has been made since Newton's theory of grav-

itation was promulgated. This suggestion,

however, was put aside by Dr. Einstein himself

when he was interviewed by a correspond-

ent of the New York Times at his home in

Berlin. To this correspondent he expressed

the difference between his conception and

the law of gravitation in the following

terms:

“Please imagine the earth removed, and

in its place suspended a box as big as a

room or a whole house, and inside a man

naturally floating in the center, there being

no force whatever pulling him. Imagine,

further, this box being, by a rope or other

contrivance, suddenly jerked to one side,

which is scientifically termed ‘difform mo-

tion’, as opposed to ‘uniform motion.’ The

person would then naturally reach bottom

on the opposite side. The result would con-

sequently be the same as if he obeyed

Newton's law of gravitation, while, in fact,

there is no gravitation exerted whatever,

which proves that difform motion will in

every case produce the same effects as

gravitation.

“I have applied this new idea to every

kind of difform motion and have thus de-

veloped mathematical formulas which I

am convinced give more precise results

than those based on Newton's theory. New-

ton's formulas, however, are such close ap-

proximations that it was difficult to find

by observation any obvious disagreement

with experience.”

Dr. Einstein, it must be remembered, is

a physicist and not an astronomer. He de-

veloped his theory as a mathematical for-

mula. The confirmation of it came from the

astronomers. As he himself says, the cru-

cial test was supplied by the last total solar

eclipse. Observations then proved that the

rays of fixed stars, having to pass close to

the sun to reach the earth, were deflected

the exact amount demanded by Einstein's

formulas. The deflection was also in the

direction predicted by him.

The question must have occurred to

many, what has all this to do with relativ-

ity? When this query was propounded by

the Times correspondent to Dr. Einstein he

replied as follows:

“The term relativity refers to time and

space. According to Galileo and Newton,

time and space were absolute entities, and

the moving systems of the universe were

dependent on this absolute time and space.