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A. Einstein TLS "the general theory of relativity" Rejecting Landé's Quantum Mechanics Interpretation As Related - Part of Much Larger Rift In Physics Community!
A. Einstein TLS "the general theory of relativity" Rejecting Landé's Quantum Mechanics Interpretation As Related - Part of Much Larger Rift In Physics Community!
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Albert Einstein
Princeton, NJ, December 28, 1935
A. Einstein TLS "the general theory of relativity" Rejecting Landé's Quantum Mechanics Interpretation As Related - Part of Much Larger Rift In Physics Community!
TLS

A 2pp typed letter in German signed by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) at the conclusion as "A. Einstein." December 28, 1935. Princeton, New Jersey. Typed on either side of a sheet of watermarked paper, with blind-embossed letterhead as: "A. Einstein / 112, Mercer Street, / Princeton, / New Jersey, U.S.A." Expected wear including light toning, flattened transmittal folds, and a tiny closed tear along the horizontal fold at the right edge of the first page. With one contemporaneous typographical edit found in the first sentence. Else near fine. 8.5" x 10.75". Provided with a complete German transcript and English translation. With its original transmittal envelope, postmarked, stamped, and hand-stamped, with moderate weathering, and letter-opened at top, 9.5" x 4.25". Both items are housed in a custom-made quarter-leather presentation case with marbled boards and gilt-stamped spine which opens to display a black and white photograph of Einstein to the left of the letter. The case measures 8.75" x 11.25" x .5" overall. Provenance: Property from the Roger D. Judd Collection of Historical Letters, Documents, and Manuscripts, Christie's, June 12, 1919; Sotheby's, November 17, 1998.

Einstein addressed this letter to fellow German physicist Alfred Landé (1888-1976), then a physics professor at Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio (Landé would serve on the faculty of OSU from 1931 until his retirement in 1959.) This letter is evidently part of a larger correspondence exchanged between Einstein and Landé in which they discussed some of the finer points of quantum mechanics. The content of this letter is outstanding by itself, but it becomes even more exciting when it is considered within its wider historical context. This is because the letter relates to the most important issue in the field of quantum mechanics in the 1930s: radically opposing interpretations of scientists' ability to observe and measure particles.

Einstein - the "grandfather of quantum mechanics" - here disagrees with an influential quantum mechanics scholar from the next generation, Alfred Landé. The difference in opinion between Einstein and Landé actually reflected a wider, deepening schism within the field. In this era, quantum physicists were dividing into two distinct camps, members of the so-called Copenhagen School (Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Max Born and other leading European physicists, including Alfred Landé); and other physicists, like Albert Einstein, who considered the Copenhagen interpretations incomplete and unsatisfactory.

Einstein wrote, translated in full:

"Princeton N.J., 28. December [19]35

Dear colleague!

I am only today answering your interesting letter. Your comments have little to do with ours. I only want to respond to the former.

In your opinion, if there is a moving frame of reference fixed in 'space,' a particle or quantum of light that interacts with it must necessarily be regarded as a complex wave, not as a localized body. Then, for this event as envisaged, the conservation of momentum principle becomes meaningless, since it cannot be tested.

But if you want to look at this event from the point of view of the conservation of momentum, then you need a 'free' frame of reference, i.e. one not fixed in space. On the other hand, you can now consider the particle as localized, i.e., as a material point.

If one seeks to consistently think through such a point of view by taking seriously your comparison with the general theory of relativity, then one should consider both views merely as different descriptions of the same event. But there must be a computational transition from one kind of description to another, analogous to that transition that is made in the general theory of relativity by a non-linear point transformation. As long as one cannot specify such a transition, one has no right to deny that these are two real and different events, not just different descriptions of the same event.

It would be nice if you could tell me your opinion on this point.

With best regards,

Yours,
[signed] A. Einstein."

In the letter, Einstein discusses how the position of a "particle or quantum of light" in space, and its "conservation of momentum" (how it behaves within a closed system), will inform how it can be measured. Either establishing, or not establishing, a frame of reference becomes critically important. Einstein describes how the said particle might move, differentiating a "complex wave" from "a localized body."

These specific ideas as well as this specific vocabulary suggests Einstein was referencing a paper published earlier in 1935, "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality be Considered Complete?" published in "Physical Review," Vol. 47, on May 15, 1935. The article was co-authored by Einstein and Boris Podolsky and Nathan Rosen, two colleagues from the Institute of Advanced Study. Core ideas advanced in the essay became known as the Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Paradox (EPR). The authors presented a thought experiment in which two particles, A and B, could both be definitely measured, something that the Copenhagen School did not believe was possible. While Bohr, Landé and others would have argued that only ONE of the particles could be measured, EPR contended that BOTH could be; this is the crux of why EPR contended that the existing (Copenhagen) interpretation was inadequate.

Interestingly, though the EPR essay significantly impacted the field of quantum mechanics, Einstein later distanced himself from it, claiming that it was mostly written by Podolsky. In this way, the letter which Einstein here sends to Landé is thus a more direct reflection of Einstein's personal understanding of quantum mechanics. Einstein would return to this topic and elaborate on the principle of local realism in his article "Physik und Realität," published in the "Journal of the Franklin Institute" in 1936.

The divergence of opinion between the Copenhagen School and all the rest further fueled the Bohr-Einstein Debates, which had begun in the mid-1920s. In fact, Bohr was quick to publish a rebuttal of "Can Quantum-Mechanical Description of Physical Reality be Considered Complete?" in the follow-up issue of "Physical Review," Vol. 48, in October 1935, just two months before Einstein's letter to Landé.

Landé would go on to publish "Principles of Quantum Mechanics" in 1937, followed by "Quantum Mechanics" in 1951 and "Foundations of Quantum Theory: A Study in Continuity and Symmetry" in 1955. Although in the beginning of his scientific career Landé had belonged to the Copenhagen School, by the 1950s, he had joined Einstein in attacking the Copenhagen criteria. This change of perspective was driven by Landé's perception that wave-particle duality was an unnecessary misrepresentation of quantum processes. Instead, he explained this phenomenon by developing a new unitary particle formulation without dualistic reference to waves.

An important piece of scientific correspondence, as Einstein discusses the perceived shortcomings of influential emerging theories of quantum mechanics!

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: case: 8.75" x 11.25" x .5"
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