Re: Einstein, Hawking, and a myth about relativity

[Stephen Speicher <sjs@COMPBIO.CALTECH.EDU>]

On Tue, 10 Jun 2003, Hugh Haskell wrote:
> There is also the story that when Einstein received the telegram from
> Eddington confirming his prediction, that the grad student who was
> with Einstein at the time noted that the great man was not
> particularly moved by the news. The student queried him about why,
> and Einstein is said to have replied, "Because I knew that the theory
> was right." The student protested, "but Herr Professor, what if the
> results had been different?" Einstein responded, "Then I would have
> been sorry for the Dear Lord (Liebe Herr). The theory is correct."
>
> Makes a great story, but it could easily be another of the numerous
> legends that have grown up around Einstein.

The actual story is close, and most certainly not a myth.  The
student was Ilse Rosenthal-Schneider, at that time an
undergraduate whom Einstein invited to his house. The cable had
already arrived and was sitting on a window-sill.  Einstein
showed Eddington's confirmation of the deflection of light to
Ilse Rosenthal-Schneider, who then exclaimed that it was
wonderful that the result matched Einstein's calculation.
Einstein remarked "I knew that the theory is correct. Did you
doubt it?" Ilse responded "No, of course not. But what would you
have said if there had been no confirmation like this?" It was
then that Einstein said the words

   "I would have had to pity our dear God. The theory is
    correct all the same."[1]

   ["Da koennt' mir halt der liebe Gott leid tun. Die
     Theorie stimmt doch."]

This story, and many others about Einstein, von Laue, and Planck,
is part of Ilse Rosenthal-Schneider's book which I referenced as
[1]. Note that Dr. Rosenthal-Schneider maintained a
long-standing relationship with all three of these greats of
physics -- primarily through correspondence -- but with Einstein
more closely, intellectually, than with the others.

In context, Einstein is clearly just expressing to a friend the
confidence he had in his theory, not writing a dissertation on
the meaning of observation in the scientific method. Einstein had
a very healthy respect for experimental fact, but he also knew
that experimental errors could be made, and I suspect that his
intellectual confidence in his theory would not have been greatly
shaken if the results were in the negative.  Just as he had done
with the Kaufmann data a decade earlier, he would have analyzed
the experiment and if he found something suspicious he would
await further testing by better experiments.

It would be unfair to take Einstein's comment out-of-context, as
meaning that theory takes precedence over experiment. The
opposite is true, just as Einstein said

   "Pure logical thinking cannot yield us any knowledge of
    the empirical world; all knowledge of reality starts
    from experience and ends in it."[2]

[1] Albert Einstein quoted in "Reality and Scientific Truth:
Discussions with Einstein, von Laue, and Planck," Ilse
Rosenthal-Schneider, p. 74, _Wayne State University Press_, 1980.

[2] Albert Einstein, "On the Method of Theoretical Physics," in
"Ideas and Opinions," p. 271, _Three Rivers Press_, 1954/1982.

--
Stephen
sjs@compbio.caltech.edu

Ignorance is just a placeholder for knowledge.

Printed using 100% recycled electrons.
-----------------------------------------------------------