Article ID: CBB000850201

Klein, Einstein, and Five-Dimensional Unification (2007)

unapi

I examine the changing attitudes of Oskar Klein (1894--1977) and Albert Einstein (1879--1955) toward the notion of extending general relativity by an extra dimension with the aim of encompassing electromagnetism and gravitation in a unified field theory. I show how Klein developed his model of five-dimensional unification with the goal of explaining the discreteness of atomic energy levels, and how Einstein later embraced that goal. By examining the correspondence between Klein and Einstein, some of which was relayed through Paul Ehrenfest (1880--1933), I speculate that Klein's work helped motivate Einstein to explore deterministic five-dimensional theories as a potential alternative to probabilistic quantum mechanics. Finally, I consider the contributions of Wolfgang Pauli (1900--1958) to the subject and elucidate his role in convincing Klein and Einstein that their models were not viable.

...More

Description Looks at the correspondence between Klein and Einstein, some relayed through Paul Ehrenfest; also looks at the contributions of Wolfgang Pauli.


Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB000850201/

Similar Citations

Article Tilman Sauer; Tobias Schütz; (2021)
Einstein's Washington Manuscript on Unified Field Theory (/isis/citation/CBB020200406/)

Article Stachel, John; (2005)
Einstein et “Zweistein” (/isis/citation/CBB001252089/)

Article Sauer, Tilman; (2008)
Nova Geminorum 1912 and the Origin of the Idea of Gravitational Lensing (/isis/citation/CBB000773886/)

Article Rowe, David E.; (2001)
Einstein Meets Hilbert: At the Crossroads of Physics and Mathematics (/isis/citation/CBB000102532/)

Article Tilman Sauer; (2021)
Soldner, Einstein, Gravitational Light Deflection and Factors of Two (/isis/citation/CBB321888925/)

Article Pound, Robert V.; (2000)
Weighing Photons, I (/isis/citation/CBB000110128/)

Book Ron Cowen; (2019)
Gravity’s Century: From Einstein’s Eclipse to Images of Black Holes (/isis/citation/CBB699668949/)

Article Torretti, Roberto; (2000)
Gravity as spacetime curvature (/isis/citation/CBB000110494/)

Book Einstein, Albert; Buchwald, Diana Kormos; (2012)
The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein: Writings and Correspondence, January 1922--March 1923 (/isis/citation/CBB001252282/)

Article Klein, Martin J.; (2010)
Paul Ehrenfest, Niels Bohr, and Albert Einstein: Colleagues and Friends (/isis/citation/CBB001036147/)

Article Pérez, Enric; Sauer, Tilman; (2010)
Einstein's Quantum Theory of the Monatomic Ideal Gas: Non-Statistical Arguments for a New Statistics (/isis/citation/CBB001022007/)

Chapter Renn, Jürgen; Sauer, Tilman; (2003)
Eclipses of the Stars: Mandl, Einstein, and the Early History of Gravitational Lensing (/isis/citation/CBB000430186/)

Authors & Contributors
Sauer, Tilman
Tobias Schütz
Rocci, Alessio
Wuensch, Daniela
Torretti, Roberto
Stachel, John J.
Concepts
Physics
Gravitation
Relativity, general
Electromagnetism
Relativity
Quantum mechanics
Time Periods
20th century, early
20th century
20th century, late
21st century
19th century
Places
Austria
Berlin (Germany)
Institutions
Harvard University
Comments

Be the first to comment!

{{ comment.created_by.username }} on {{ comment.created_on | date:'medium' }}

Log in or register to comment