Table of Contents

Introduction; 1. The young astronomer Erwin Finlay Freundlich; 2. A theorist's observer: Freundlich's collaboration with Einstein from 1911; 3. Relativity theory under scrutiny: experimental testing; 4. Statistical investigations of gravitational redshift, 1915-1916; 5. Berlin science politics: support for Freundlich from 1913; 6. Astrophysics at Potsdam and elsewhere; 7. Erich Mendelsohn and the tower telescope design; 8. Research at the Eistein Tower during the Freundlich era; 9. The solar eclipse expedition of 1929; 10. Clashes between Freundlich and Ludendorff; 11. Political transition and exile; 12. A solitary fate: photon-photon interacti on; 13. A bird's-eye view; Reference matter; Abbreviations in the Notes; Notes; References; Index.

About the Author

Klaus Hentschel is Assistant Professor at the Institute for the History of Science at the University of Göttingen and a fellow at the Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, for 1996/97.

Reviews

"In this compact and lively study, Hentschel weaves together elements of a story that conventional disciplinary divisions - history of physics, history of architecture, history of institutions - pull asunder. By deliberately focusing not on a theory, a person, or even an institution but rather a building, he is able to skip nimbly among these unusually disjoint subjects and approaches and to create a smooth and often fascinating, always illuminating, narrative out of these pieces." - Lorraine Daston, University of Chicago "Hentschel has succeeded in writing a very readable account of certain hitherto neglected aspects of the early history of general relativity, made more fascinating by the eccentric perspective that his account takes." - Jurgen Renn, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science