Generalization of Gravitation Theory. A reprint of Appendix II from the fourth edition of The Meaning of Relativity. SIGNED BY PAUL EHRENFEST'S DAUGHTER, EINSTEIN'S "NIECE"

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First edition, extremely rare offprint, SIGNED BY THE DAUGHTER OF EINSTEIN'S CLOSE FRIEND AND COLLEAGUE PAUL EHRENFEST (dated 19.V.53), of the famous 'Appendix II' to the fourth edition of 'The Meaning of Relativity' - this Appendix contains Einstein's final attempt at a unification of gravitation and electromagnetism, reported by the New York Times under the sensational headline 'New Einstein theory gives a master key to the universe.' "This [Appendix] was Einstein's ultimate response to the mechanical-electromagnetic crisis in physical theory he had first talked about in the opening of his 1905 light quantum-paper" (DSB). It is in Appendix II that Einstein "described his most recent work on unification" (Pais, Subtle is the Lord). In his own words, "The last step of the theory concerns the unification of the field concept, which is characterized by the transition to non-symmetric fields. The difficulty in the choice of the field laws has been fully overcome only in the last few months. The arguments essential for this are presented in detail in Appendix II." Appendix II did not begin appearing in 'The Meaning of Relativity' until the 1949 third edition; he revised it for the 1950 'third edition, revised' and then heavily revised it for the 1953 fourth edition. This version of Appendix II is definitive and is the only one for which an offprint exists. Only two copies of this offprint have appeared at auction in the last 40 years, both without provenance (Swann Galleries, 1994, $1265; Bonham's, 2017, $1875). Weil 235*. 8vo, pp. 133-165, [1, blank]. Stapled into original yellow printed wrappers (wrappers a bit solied). Signed 'T. Ehrenfest' on front wrapper. This is Paul Ehrenfest's daughter Tatyana ('Tanja') (1905-1984), who became a mathematician. Einstein was very close to Ehrenfest, who committed suicide in 1933, and Einstein was like an uncle to his children. N° de ref. del artículo ABE-1572533389805

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