9780192806727.pdf

468 THE QUANTUM THEORY

Einstein kept thinking about quantum theory until the very end. He wrote his

last autobiographical sketch in Princeton, in March 1955, about a month before

his death. Its final sentences deal with the quantum theory.

It appears dubious whether a [classical] field theory can account for the atom-

istic structure of matter and radiation as well as of quantum phenomena. Most

physicists will reply with a convinced 'No,' since they believe that the quantum

problem has been solved in principle by other means. However that may be,

Lessing's comforting word stays with us: the aspiration to truth is more precious

than its assured possession. [E40]

References

Bl. M. Born, letter to A. Einstein, October 10, 1944.

B2. (Ed.), The Born-Einstein Letters, p. 88. Walker, New York, 1971.

El. A. Einstein, Smithsonian Institution Report for 1927, p. 201; Naturw. 15, 273

(1927).

E2. , /. Franklin Inst. 221, 313 (1936).

E3.- in Albert Einstein: Philosopher-Scientist (P. A. Schilpp, Ed.). Tudor, New

York, 1949.

E4. , On the Method of Theoretical Physics. Oxford University Press, New York,

1933. Reprinted in Phil. Sci. 1, 162 (1934).
      E5. , letter to M. Born, September 15, 1950.
      E6. , letter to M. Besso, August 8, 1949; EB, p. 407.
      E7. , letter to M. Born, April 12, 1949.
      E8. , letter to M. Born, March 18, 1948.
      E9. , letter to M. Besso, July 24, 1949; EB, p. 402.
      E10. , letter to E. Schroedinger, August 9, 1939.
      Ell. , letter to N. Bohr, April 4, 1949.
      E12. —, letter to M. Born, March 18, 1948.
      E13. ,AdP17, 891 (1905).
      E14. —,AdP 18, 639 (1905).
      El 5. , Phys. Zeitschr. 10, 817 (1909).
      E16. , Phys. Zeitschr. 18, 121 (1917).
      E17. , letter to M. Born, March 22, 1934.
      E18. , letter to A. Sommerfeld, December 14, 1946.
      E19. in James Clark Maxwell, p. 66. Macmillan, New York, 1931.
      £20. , PAW, 1923, p. 359.
      E21. , letter to M. Born, March 3, 1920.
      E22. , letter to M. Besso, January 5, 1924; EB, p. 197.
      E23. , Forschungen und Fortschntte 5, 248 (1929).
      E24. , letter to M. Besso, July 28, 1925; EB, p. 209.
      E25. —, letter to M. Besso, August 1942; EB, p. 366.
      E26. , letter to M. Besso, August 16, 1949; EB, p. 409.
      E27. , letter to L. de Broglie, February 8, 1954.
      E28. and J. Grommer PAW, 1927, p. 2.