In 1915 and 1916 Emmy Noether was asked by Felix Klein and David Hilbert to assist them in understanding issues involved in any attempt to formulate a general theory of relativity, in particular the new ideas of Einstein. She was consulted particularly over the difficult issue of the form a law of conservation of energy could take in the new theory, and she succeeded brilliantly, finding two deep theorems.

But between 1916 and 1950, the theorem was poorly understood and Noether's name disappeared almost entirely. People like Klein and Einstein did little more then mention her name in the various popular or historical accounts they wrote. Worse, earlier attempts which had been eclipsed by Noether's achievements were remembered, and sometimes figure in quick historical accounts of the time.

This book carries a translation of Noether's original paper into English, and then describes the strange history of its reception and the responses to her work. Ultimately the theorems became decisive in a shift from basing fundamental physics on conservations laws to basing it on symmetries, or at the very least, in thoroughly explaining the connection between these two families of ideas. The real significance of this book is that it shows very clearly how long it took before mathematicians and physicists began to recognize the seminal importance of Noether's results. This book is thoroughly researched and provides careful documentation of the textbook literature. Kosmann-Schwarzbach has thus thrown considerable light on this slow dance in which the mathematical tools necessary to study symmetry properties and conservation laws were apparently provided long before the orchestra arrives and the party begins."

"La Bible enfin expliquee", une des dernieres publications de Voltaire, promet d'etre la synthese de ses pensees au sujet de la Bible, Ancien et Nouveau Testaments. Elle est a la fois plus et moins que cela: moins que cela car il y recycle des analyses de nombre de ses ecrits anterieurs; plus que cela quand il lit l'Ancien Testament en historien et quand il introduit des nouveautes de critique biblique. Il fait les premiers pas vers une generalisation a tous les livres de la Bible de l'argument de Jean Astruc au sujet de la Genese, que ce livre est un assemblage et une fusion tardive de diverses sources anciennes. Il traite la vie et la predication de Jesus egalement en historien, dans le contexte de la religiosite des sectes juives du premier siecle dont on trouve des traces chez Flavius Josephe et Philon. Dans ses annotations, Bertram Schwarzbach compare le texte de Voltaire avec le tres orthodoxe Commentaire litteral de Dom Augustin Calmet que Voltaire exploitait, et avec les corrosifs traites dits clandestins, y compris les Examens de la Bible rediges par Mme Du Chatelet vers 1743. Voltaire semble ne l'avoir jamais lu mais il avait pu y contribuer indirectement par ses discussions avec sa compagne aux petits-dejeuners et ailleurs. L'editeur tente de situer les commentaires de Voltaire, parfois astucieux mais trop souvent farfelus, dans l'histoire des etudes bibliques depuis les hebraisants du dix-septieme siecle jusqu'aux critiques et historiens des dix-neuvieme et vingtieme siecles.

In 1915 and 1916 Emmy Noether was asked by Felix Klein and David Hilbert to assist them in understanding issues involved in any attempt to formulate a general theory of relativity, in particular the new ideas of Einstein. She was consulted particularly over the difficult issue of the form a law of conservation of energy could take in the new theory, and she succeeded brilliantly, finding two deep theorems.

But between 1916 and 1950, the theorem was poorly understood and Noether's name disappeared almost entirely. People like Klein and Einstein did little more then mention her name in the various popular or historical accounts they wrote. Worse, earlier attempts which had been eclipsed by Noether's achievements were remembered, and sometimes figure in quick historical accounts of the time.

This book carries a translation of Noether's original paper into English, and then describes the strange history of its reception and the responses to her work. Ultimately the theorems became decisive in a shift from basing fundamental physics on conservations laws to basing it on symmetries, or at the very least, in thoroughly explaining the connection between these two families of ideas. The real significance of this book is that it shows very clearly how long it took before mathematicians and physicists began to recognize the seminal importance of Noether's results. This book is thoroughly researched and provides careful documentation of the textbook literature. Kosmann-Schwarzbach has thus thrown considerable light on this slow dance in which the mathematical tools necessary to study symmetry properties and conservation laws were apparently provided long before the orchestra arrives and the party begins."