Going from “Nothing” to Everything in a Few Years: Einstein at the Solvay Conference, 1911

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By “nothing” I mean Einstein’s relative “nothing” of early 1905 compared to the rest of the hard-working, Ph.D. laden physics field in the major universities of Germany.  And certainly Einstein was nothing and somewhat nowhere in this regard just prior to his momentous year of 1905*, scrounging around the fringes of the academic world, working as a patent examiner, trying to get his doctorate hammered out and accepted. 

Then come the summer of 1905, and the dates June 9,  July 18,  September 26 and November 21—the publication dates of his four papers in the Annalen der Physik, and with them a new epoch in the history of physics, a true modernizing, revolutionary effect takes place. 

But Einstein quietly gets his dissertation accepted (and his degree confirmed in January 1906 from the University of Zurich), and his revolution is started, absolutely certain of his results, but privately worried about whether all of it would be as beautiful as Newton ’s theories. The ball is forever set in motion.  And to make a little extra money, Einstein takes a private student for instruction at the end of the year.  He is 26 years old. 

The odd thing (although not odd when explained by Abraham Pais in any of his three books relating to Einstein) is that Einstein would remain at the patent office for another four years, though he is promoted to second class expert in 1907.  Einstein does become a private college lecturer in 1908, but stays with the patent office until October 1909 (even though he is awarded his first honorary doctorate in July from the University of Geneva) when he begins work as an associate prof for theoretical physics at Zurich.

Things speed up for Einstein from this point, and he is suddenly and rightfully acknowledged as being one of the most important thinkers in the field of physics in the world by being invited to the ultra-exclusive Solvay Conference for theoretical physics in 1911. (By the time of the conference, Einstein had been a professor at the German University in Prague, in 1910.) At 32 he is the youngest person there, surrounded by some of the best minds in the business. 

[Invited attendees for the 1911 Solvay Conference at the Hotel Metropole. included   Seated (L-R): W. Nernst, M. Brillouin, E. Solvay, H. Lorentz, E. Warburg, J. Perrin, W. Wien, M. Curie, and H. Poincaré. Standing (L-R): R. Goldschmidt, M. Planck, H. Rubens, A. Sommerfeld, F. Lindemann, M. de Broglie, M. Knudsen, F. Hasenöhrl, G. Hostelet, E. Herzen, J.H. Jeans, E. Rutherford, H. Kamerlingh Onnes, A. Einstein and P. Langevin.]

Einstein is evidently not moved by the proceedings, writing that he had heard “nothing new”, at least at the formal meetings.  The conference was for a full week,but since everyone was staying at the same hotel (which would’ve been a pretty potent address for that week) I assume that a lot was discussed in private—evidently Einstein was extremely quiet during the official proceedings, but became animated in private, post-conference conversations. 

My point for this post, really, is quite simple—the extraordinary academic rise in Einstein’s fortunes during the 1909-1911 period, captured in this famous photo.  Einstein was a bona fide powerhouse (the powerhouse) by this point, what with his revolutionary 1905 papers, plus the blockbusters of 1906, 1908 and 1911, and still yet getting stronger. (Incidentally, I always wondered about Einstein’s hand position in photos like this, showing one hand seemingly forming a neat zero with index and thumb. Actually, that hand is in the same position for this photo and for the other Solvay Conferences that Einstein attended (the 2^nd, 5^th and 6^th)—the mystery for me was solved by my friend Dr. Raymond Cooper, who pointed out to me that it was just Einstein holding his pipe.

*It really is hard to overstate the importance of Einstein’s efforts in this year.  Really.

The four papers in volume 17 of the Annalen der Physik:

-Über einen die Erzeugung und Verwandlung des Lichtes betreffenden heuristishen Gesichtspunkt, (“On a Heuristic Point of View concerning the Production and Transformation of Light.”) being the photoelectricity/quantum of light paper, received March 18 and published June 9.

-Die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Wärme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden Flüssigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen, (“On the Movement of Small Particles Suspended in Stationary Liquids Required by the Molecular-Kinetic Theory of Heat”), being the  Brownian Motion of particles/atomic theory paper, received May 11, published July 18.

-Elektrodynamic bewegter Körper, (“On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies”), being the special relativity theory paper,. received June 30 and published 26 September.

-Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieeinhalt abhängig? (“Does the Inertia of a Body Depend upon Its Energy Content?”), being the mass-energy equivalence paper (and the kernel of E=mc²), received September 27 and published November 21.

A List of the Solvay Conferences (the number, followed by its year, a translation of the title of the conference, and the conference chair):

1. 1911  La théorie du rayonnement et les quanta The theory of radiation and quanta Hendrik Lorentz (Leiden)

2. 1913  La structure de la matière The structure of matter. Hendrik Lorentz (Leiden)

3. 1921  Atomes et électrons Atoms and electrons. Hendrik Lorentz (Leiden)

4. 1924  Conductibilité électrique des métaux et problèmes connexes Electric conductivity of metals and related problems. Hendrik Lorentz (Leiden)

5. 1927  Electrons et photons Electrons and photons. Hendrik Lorentz (Leiden)

6. 1930  Le magnétisme Magnetism Paul Langevin (Paris)

7. 1933  Structure et propriétés des noyaux atomiques Structure & properties of the atomic nucleus. Paul Langevin (Paris)

8. 1948  Les particules élémentaires Elementary particles Sir Lawrence Bragg (Cambridge)

9. 1951  L'état solide The solid state. particles Sir Lawrence Bragg (Cambridge)

10. 1954  Les électrons dans les métaux Electrons in metals  particles Sir Lawrence Bragg (Cambridge)

11. 1958  La structure et l'évolution de l'univers The structure and evolution of the universe particles Sir Lawrence Bragg (Cambridge)

12. 1961  La théorie quantique des champs Quantum field theory  particles Sir Lawrence Bragg (Cambridge)

13. 1964  The Structure and Evolution of Galaxies J. R. Oppenheimer (Princeton)

14. 1967  Fundamental Problems in Elementary Particle Physics R. Møller (Copenhagen) 15. 1970  Symmetry Properties of Nuclei Edoardo Amaldi (Rome)

16. 1973  Astrophysics and Gravitation. Edoardo Amaldi (Rome)  

17. 1978  Order and Fluctuations in Equilibrium and Nonequilibrium Statistical Mechanics Léon van Hove (CERN)

18. 1982  Higher Energy Physics. Léon van Hove (CERN)  

19. 1987  Surface Science F.W. de Wette (Austin)

20. 1991  Quantum Optics Paul Mandel (Brussels)

21. 1998  Dynamical Systems and Irreversibility Ioannis Antoniou (Brussels)

22. 2001  The Physics of Communication. Ioannis Antoniou (Brussels)

23. 2005  The Quantum Structure of Space and Time David Gross (Santa Barbara)

24. 2008 Quantum Theory of Condensed Matter Bertrand Halperin (Harvard)