“Expectations of a definite form”

FEB 01, 1950

Physics Today is privileged to present an excerpt from a newly published essay by Albert Einstein. The excerpt is reprinted here from “Albert Einstein: Philosopher‐Scientist,” Volume VII of the Library of Living Philosophers,* with the kind permission of Paul Arthur Schilpp, editor of the series. The above title is the last phrase of the autobiographical introduction to the volume and the excerpt that follows is from the final essay “Remarks Concerning the Essays Brought Together in this Co‐operative Volume.” Professor Schilpp translated this material from the German typescript.

DOI: 10.1063/1.3066809

Albert Einstein

Paul Arthur Schilpp

By way of introduction I must remark that it was not easy for me to do justice to the task of expressing myself concerning the essays contained in this volume. The reason lies in the fact that the essays refer to entirely too many subjects, which, at the present state of our knowledge, are only loosely connected with each other. I first attempted to discuss the essays individually. However, I abandoned this procedure because nothing even approximately homogeneous resulted, so that the reading of it could hardly have been either useful or enjoyable. I finally decided, therefore, to order these remarks, as far as possible, according to topical considerations.

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More about the authors

Paul Arthur Schilpp, Northwestern University.