Erich Kretschmann

Erich Justus Kretschmann (born July 14, 1887 in Berlin ; † 1973 ) was a German physicist who made important contributions to the theory of relativity .

He received his doctorate in 1914 at the University of Berlin under Max Planck and Heinrich Rubens . Then he worked as a high school teacher . In 1920 he became a private lecturer in theoretical physics at the University of Königsberg , where he became an associate professor in 1926 . From 1946 to 1952 he was professor for theoretical physics and director of the institute for theoretical physics at the Martin-Luther-Universität Halle-Wittenberg .

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Kretschmann was best known for his contributions to the theory of relativity. So he formulated the Kretschmann scalar and the point coincidence argument.

A work from 1917 was particularly momentous for the further interpretation of the general theory of relativity . Kretschmann asserted here that the general covariance (the immutability of the physical equations in all conceivable coordinate transformations) is physically empty, because every theory can "general" with a corresponding mathematical effort covariant ". This means that Einstein's original assumption, according to which the general covariance automatically implies the validity of a general principle of relativity as well as Mach's principle , could not be maintained. The importance of the general covariance in the general theory of relativity is still discussed in the philosophy of science today.

literature

• Wolfgang Gebhardt: Erich Kretschmann. The Life of a Theoretical Physicist in Difficult Times (Preprint 482) . Ed .: Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. 2016, ISSN  0948-9444 ( mpg.de [PDF]).

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Who is who ?: Das Deutsche who's who, Volume 12, Arani, 1955
2. ↑ Scientific journal of the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg: Mathematical and natural science series, Volume 6, Martin Luther University, 1957
3. ^ "Einstein's First Systematic Exposition of General Relativity," by M. Janssen, on philsci-archive.pitt.edu
4. ^ Norton, John D., "General Covariance and the Foundations of General Relativity: Eight Decades of Dispute," Rep. Progr. Theor. Phys., Vol. 56, 1993, 751-856. (PDF; 4.1 MB)

Fonts

• Kretschmann, Erich. 1915. About the fundamental determinability of the legitimate reference systems of any theories of relativity (I), (II) . Annalen der Physik 48: 907-942, 943-982.

• ———. 1917. About the physical sense of the postulates of relativity. A. Einstein's new and his original relativity theory . Annals of Physics 53: 575-614.