Max Planck’s 'Das Prinzep der Relativität': The First Public Response to Einstein’s Special Relativity
It may be surprising to learn that Einstein’s Special Relativity, one of the most important scientific theories ever constructed, didn’t cause an immediate sensation when it was published in 1905. It took the efforts of one prominent physicist, Max Planck, to bring it to the attention of the scientific community through his paper ‘Das Prinzip der Relativität und die Grundgleichungen der Mechanik’.
Imagine you’re only 25 years old and you’ve just published a revolutionary idea that will completely change how we see the universe. And then…. nothing happens!
That’s exactly what a young Albert Einstein experienced when he announced the 'Theory of Special Relativity' in Annalen der Physik in 1905. As his sister later recalled, ‘The young scholar imagined that his publication in the renowned and much-read journal would draw immediate attention. He expected sharp opposition and the severest criticism. But he was very disappointed. His publication was followed by an icy silence’ (Abraham Pais, Subtle is the Lord, pp. 149-150).
But then, months later, a letter arrived from Berlin. Its author was Max Planck, one of the most famous living physicists, whose own work was a direct precursor to some of Einstein’s.
(Example of Planck’s signature.)
Planck asked for clarification about certain aspects of Einstein’s theory and then quickly became a supporter. ‘After the long wait this was the first sign that his paper had been read at all. The joy of the young scientist was especially great because the recognition of his activities came from one of the greatest physicists of that time’ (Pais).
That winter Planck presented Relativity at scientific meetings and public colloquia, and in the following year he submitted the very first published response, ‘Das Prinzip der Relativität und die Grundgleichungen der Mechanik’ ('The Principle of Relativity' and the 'Fundamental Equations of Mechanics'), in the Proceedings of the German Physical Society. It wasn’t just an acknowledgement of Einstein’s idea. Here Planck himself derived new results from Relativity, including the 'Momentum Velocity Relation', the 'Transformation Laws', and the 'Variational Principle' of relativistic point mechanics.
This is the very rare author’s offprint of Planck’s article. The author of a scientific paper often receives a few copies printed separately from the rest of the journal contents, to keep for their own reference and to distribute to colleagues. For collectors, it is the most desirable form in which papers appear on the secondary market. This particular copy, though unsigned, is originally from the library of the prominent physicist Arnold Sommerfeld (1868-1951), a good friend of Planck’s and important early supporter of Einstein.
Once Planck began promoting special relativity the dam burst, and it became one of the hottest topics in science. 'In his scientific autobiography, Planck gave his reasons for being so strongly drawn to Einstein’s theory: ‘For me its appeal lay in the fact that I could strive toward deducing absolute, invariant features following from its theorems’. The search for the absolute - forever Planck’s main purpose in science - had found a new focus’ (Pais, p. 150).
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