The Gravitational Equations and the Problem of Motion. II. Reprinted from Annals of Mathematics, Vol. 41, No. 2, April, 1940.

EINSTEIN, Albert, & Leopold Infeld.

Published by [Princeton: Princeton University Press,] 1940

About this Item

First edition, offprint issue, of Einstein's last major contribution to the general theory of relativity. It formed part of his mathematical investigations into the structure of the theory, which he spent the latter part of his life refining. "During the development of the general theory, Einstein had intended to hold fast to the conservation of energy and momentum in the usual (special relativistic) sense as far as possible. At the same time he was driven by other considerations toward the idea that the laws should be generally covariant. These two desires proved mutually incompatible. The problem of the equation of motion of bodies is the following. The 1916 theory had a classical structure in the sense that there were both field equations (the curvature of space-time is determined by the mass and motion of bodies in space-time) and equation of motion of bodies (the world line of small mass is a geodesic). Einstein showed that if matter is represented by a point singularity of the metric field, these singularities are located on world lines that are geodesics of space time, provided its metric satisfies the equation of general relativity" (DSB IV, p. 329). The first part of the paper was published in 1938. Boni 236.1; Weil 205. Large octavo, pp. 10. Original wrappers, wire-stitched as issued, front cover printed in black. Wrappers gently toned: a near-fine copy.

Seller Inventory # 180281

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Gravitational Equations and the Problem of Motion. II. Reprinted from Annals of Mathematics, Vol. 41, No. 2, April, 1940.
• Publisher: [Princeton: Princeton University Press,] 1940
• Edition: 1st Edition