Volume 1 presents important new material on the young Einstein.
Over half the documents made available here were discovered by the
editors, including a significant group of over fifty letters that
Einstein exchanged with Mileva Maric, his fellow student and future
wife. These letters, together with other previously unpublished
documents, provide an entirely new view of Einstein's youth. The
documents in the volume also foreshadow the emergence of his
extraordinary creative power. In them is manifested his intense
commitment to scientific work and his interest in certain themes
that proved to be central to his thinking during the next decade.
We can follow, for example, the beginnings of his preoccupation
with the electrodynamics of moving bodies that was to lead to the
development of this special theory of relativity. For the first
time it can be seen how closely he followed such contemporary
developments in physics as Planck's work on radiation theory and
Drude's work on the electron theory of metals. In addition to all
of Einstein's known correspondence and other writings from this
period, the volume includes the relevant portions of all
third-party letters and other contemporary documents that provide
additional information about his secondary schooling at the Aargau
Cantonal School; his four years at the Swiss Federal Plytechnical
School, or the ETH; and his search for a job after graduation.
Included in the volume are those sections of an unpublished
biography by Einstein's sister, Maja Winteler-Einstein, which deal
with his early years; his extensive notes on a physics course he
took at the ETH; and previously unpublished photographs of the
young Einstein and his teachers and friends.
Documents in Volume 1 portray Einstein's experiences during the
two stressful years after his graduation from the ETH in Zurich.
Denied a position as an Assistant at the ETH, he lived a
hand-to-mouth existence while he looked for a post at other
universities; then he attempted to find a secondary-school post,
and finally sought a nonacademic job. Tension with his parents over
his plans to marry Mileva Maric is evident throughout this period.
With the help of a friend, he finally found work at the Swiss
Patent Office, the haven where he would spend the next seven years.
Freed from his financial worries, he entered on one of the most
productive periods of his life, as the next volume, Writings
(1901-1910), will document.
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