The Einstein Tower : an intertexture of dynamic construction, relativity theory, and astronomy
Title:
The Einstein Tower : an intertexture of dynamic construction, relativity theory, and astronomy
JLCTITLE245:
Klaus Hentschel ; translated by Ann M. Hentschel.
Personal Author:
Uniform Title:
Einstein-Turm. English
Publication Information:
Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, 1997.
Physical Description:
xiv, 226 p. : ill., plans, facsims. ; 24 cm.
ISBN:
9780804728249
Series:
Series Title:
Writing science
Abstract:
This book focuses on the "Einstein Tower," an architecturally historic observatory built in Potsdam in 1920 to allow the German astronomer Erwin Finlay Freundlich to attempt to verify experimentally Einstein's general theory of relativity. Freundlich, who was the first German astronomer to show a genuine interest in Einstein's theory, managed to interest his architect friend Erich Mendelsohn in designing this unique building. Freundlich's researches were not a success; he came to doubt the very theory he was attempting to prove. (Adequate technology to test Einstein's theory lay many decades in the future.) By contrast, as an experiment in modernist architecture, the building led to international fame for Mendelsohn. To develop a full historical picture of this moment in the history of science, the book interweaves several descriptive levels: the biography of Freundlich; the social context in which he interacted with teachers, co-workers, students, his patrons (including Einstein), and scientific opponents; the cognitive aspects of his attempts to verify Einstein's theory; the political milieu within the Berlin scientific research community; and a cross-national comparison of astrophysics.
Bibliography Note:
Includes bibliographical references (p. [191]-219) and index.
Contents:
1. The Young Astronomer Erwin Finlay Freundlich -- 2. A Theorist's Observer: Freundlich's Collaboration with Einstein from 1911 -- 3. Relativity Theory Under Scrutiny: Experimental Testing -- 4. Statistical Investigations of Gravitational Redshift, 1915-1916 -- 5. Berlin Science Politics: Support for Freundlich from 1913 -- 6. Astrophysics at Potsdam and Elsewhere -- 7. Erich Mendelsohn and the Tower Telescope Design -- 8. Research at the Einstein Tower During the Freundlich Era -- 9. The Solar Eclipse Expedition of 1929 -- 10. Clashes Between Freundlich and Ludendorff -- 11. Political Transition and Exile -- 12. A Solitary Fate: Photon-Photon Interaction -- 13. A Bird's-Eye View.