The Einstein Theory of Relativity | Page 9

find satisfaction in the idea of a material intermediate
substance in which the vibrations of light take place, and they will very
probably be all the more inclined to imagine such a medium when they
learn that, according to the Einstein theory, gravitation itself does not
spread instantaneously, but with a velocity that at the first estimate may
be compared with that of light. Especially in former years were such
interpretations current and repeated attempts were made by
speculations about the nature of the ether and about the mutations and
movements that might take place in it to arrive at a clear presentation of
electro-magnetic phenomena, and also of the functioning of gravitation.
In my opinion it is not impossible that in the future this road, indeed
abandoned at present, will once more be followed with good results, if
only because it can lead to the thinking out of new experimental tests.
Einstein's theory need not keep us from so doing; only the ideas about
the ether must accord with it.
Nevertheless, even without the color and clearness that the ether
theories and the other models may be able to give, and even, we can
feel it this way, just because of the soberness induced by their absence,
Einstein's work, we may now positively expect, will remain a
monument of science; his theory entirely fulfills the first and principal
demand that we may make, that of deducing the course of phenomena
from certain principles exactly and to the smallest details. It was
certainly fortunate that he himself put the ether in the background; if he

had not done so, he probably would never have come upon the idea that
has been the foundation of all his examinations.
Thanks to his indefatigable exertions and perseverance, for he had great
difficulties to overcome in his attempts, Einstein has attained the results,
which I have tried to sketch, while still young; he is now 45 years old.
He completed his first investigations in Switzerland, where he first was
engaged in the Patent Bureau at Berne and later as a professor at the
Polytechnic in Zurich. After having been a professor for a short time at
the University of Prague, he settled in Berlin, where the Kaiser
Wilhelm Institute afforded him the opportunity to devote himself
exclusively to his scientific work. He repeatedly visited our country
and made his Netherland colleagues, among whom he counts many
good friends, partners in his studies and his results. He attended the last
meeting of the department of natural philosophy of the Royal Academy
of Sciences, and the members then had the privilege of hearing him
explain, in his own fascinating, clear and simple way, his
interpretations of the fundamental questions to which his theory gives
rise.

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