General relativity in the making, 1916--1918: Rudolf J. Humm in Göttingen and Berlin

DOI10.1007/S00591-019-00261-4MaRDI QIDQ1985477zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors David E. Rowe

Publication date 7 April 2020

Published in Mathematische Semesterberichte (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/s00591-019-00261-4

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 20th century (01A60) Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies (01A70) History of relativity and gravitational theory (83-03)

Review text

This is a surprisingly interesting biographical sketch of Rudolf Humm. Primarily known as a novelist in his home country of Switzerland, Humm actually studied physics in Berlin and Göttingen in the years 1916--1918, that is in what Jürgen Renn and Hanoch Gutfreund have designated ``the formative years of general relativity. The paper draws on Humm's extensive diaries, which offer fascinating and novel glimpses into the atmosphere of the time and into the thoughts of some of the major protagonists, such as David Hilbert (who is something of a bad guy in the story), Felix Klein (especially his historical work on mathematics), and Albert Einstein (Humm's recollections provide Einstein's most extensive early remarks on the problem of quantum gravity that I know of). No historical thesis is put forth, besides the claim that Humm is an interesting historical character, a claim that anyone who reads this wonderful little paper will certainly endorse.

Recommendations

• Einstein in Berlin
• Letters from the front
• Einstein and the history of general relativity. Based on the proceedings of the 1986 Osgood Hill Conference held in North Andover, MA, USA, May 8-11, 1986
• The genesis of general relativity
• Studies in the history of general relativity. Based on the proceedings of the 2nd international conference held in Luminy, France, September 6-9, 1988

Cites work

• Einstein meets Hilbert: At the crossroads of physics and mathematics
• Felix Klein. Visions for mathematics, applications and teaching
• Mathematik, Naturwissenschaften und Technik als Bestandteile der Kultur der Gegenwart
• On Emmy Noether's role in the relativity revolution

Cited in

(7)

• Albert Einstein in his relationships to the members of the ``Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften in Göttingen
• The socio-epistemic networks of general relativity, 1925--1970
• Marcel Grossmann. For the love of mathematics
• Leopold Ernst Halpern and the generalization of general relativity
• A biased and personal description of GR at Syracuse University, 1951--1961
• ``Before everything was completely clear, we had a few arguments. - Emmy Noether, David Hilbert and Felix Klein
• Variational formulation of general relativity from 1915 to 1925 Palatini's method discovered by Einstein in 1925

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