Sauer, Tilman

English

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160 
manifesti nei primi anni del Novecento, fan-
no di Enriques una delle figure chiave nella 
diffusione della teoria della relativit. in Ita-
lia. Infatti, al ruolo svolto da Enriques nd 
dihattiro italiano sulla re1ativita anche trami-
te la Rz'vista di scienZIJ (poi Scientia), da lui 
fondata nd 1907 insierne a Eugenio Rigna-
no, vengono dedicate varie pagine. Ed e 
sempre Enriques che, nella sua veste di con-
sulente scientifico della casa editrice Zani-
chelli, eromuove la prima traduzione jealia-
na di Uber die spl!1.ielle und die allgemeine 
Relativitiitstheon'e, I'uruca esposizione com-
plessiva della reiativit.Q senna da Einstein. E 
ancora Enriques si prodiga, prima nd 1923 
e poi (secondo la testimonianza di Adriana 
Enriques) nd 1933, per ottenere il teasferi-
mento di Einstein a insegnare e fare ricerea 
in !talia: se nd 1923 e Einstein che declina 
I' offena di Eruiques, autorizzata da Gentile 
allora Ministro della Pubblica Istruzione, 
nel1933 sembra sia stato Mussolini in per-
sona a oPPOrsi. n racconto di questa vicen-
da, fortemente legata a1 precipitare degli 
eventi in Germania e in ltalia, e il PWltO 
di pattenza per sottolineare gli aspetti poli-
tici dd legame tea Einstein e l'Italia: dal suo 
intervento suI Ministro Rocco contro l' ab-
bligo imposto ai professori universitari ita-
liani di giurare feddt. al regime fascis .. , fi-
no allibro Freedom, lis Meaning, edito negli 
Stati Uniti nd 1940, al quale pattecipano tea 
gli altri Einstein, Gaetano Salvernini e Bene-
detto Croce. E se il contributo di Einstein a 
questa libra non poteva che essere centrato 
suI rapporto tra liberta e scienza (saggio ri-
prodotto integralmente nella caccolta), il te-
rna generale della libert. fu anche l'occasio-
De di un successivo scambio epistolare nel 
1944 tea Einstein e Croce (riprodotto nella 
racooita). 
Rivolte tanto agli sruruosi quanto al vasto 
pubblico, illibro ha il pregio di raccogliere 
in forma organics scritti inedici 0 poco ro-
nosciuti e d.i non facile reperimento. n ma-
teriale documentario e diviso in quattro par-
ti: i testi delle tre conferenze bolognesi; i1 
carteggio (1920-1930) tea Einstein ed Enri-
ques; il catteggio (1915-1955) tea Einstein e 
vari oorrispondenci iraliani, tra i quali Levi-
eivira, Benedetto Croce, Vito Volterra, con 
BOOK REVIEWS 
I'aggiunta di un'interessante lettera dd 1957 
di Adriana Enriques a Otto Nathan, auto", 
con Heinz Norden dd libro EinSlein o. 
Peace (1960); e infine una scd .. di scritti 
provenienti in gran pane dalla christa Scien-
tia che documentano, in particolare, Ie vane 
fasi dd dibattito sulle concezioni relativisti-
che ospitato dalla rivista, dalla fase pionieri-
stica rappresentata dal saggio di Castdnuo-
vo dd 1911, alla «grande inchies .. di 
chiarimento, di critica e di vaIutazione» 
(dr. pp. 80-1 nd testo) delle teorie di Ein-
stein prom ossa nd 1922 da Rignano, alIora 
direttore della rivis ... 
Era inevitabile operare una scelta tea gli 
scrim da presentare. Nd caso dei tesrl tratti 
da Sdentia, per esempio, non sono starl in-
clusi qudli di Charles Fabry, August Kopff, 
Oliver Lodge, Gustav Mie e altri anCOra. 
C'e insomma materiale per un secondo vcr 
lume. 
Gruuo PERUZZI 
RiCHARD STALEY, Einstein's Generation. The 
Origins 0/ the Relativity Revolution. 
Chicago and London: The University of 
Chicago Press, 2008. x+494 pp. , ISBN 
978-0-226-77056-7. 
The declared aim of this book is to widen 
our perspective on a subject that has 
already received a substantial amount of 
attention in the historical literature. Staley 
indeed presents the reader with interesting 
and insightful discussions of several topics 
that are rarely found in prior accounts of 
the history of rdativity. The role of the 
Michdson-Morley ether drift experiment, 
which failed to detect the earth's motion 
relative to an all·pervasive ether, is a case in 
point. Its role in the reconstruction of 
Einstein's path toward the special theory of 
rdativiry in 1905 bas been a topic of much 
debate. But Staley does not add much to 
the particular question of when and how 
Einstein learned about, and responded to, 
the negative outcome of the Michelson-
Morley experiment. Instead, he goes 
BOOK REVIEWS 
back to the prehistory of Michelson's 
experimentation itself and discusses in great 
and fascinating detail Michelson's original 
research agenda and the material and 
cultural environment, in which he moved. 
He views the emergence of Michelson's 
experiment as part of a broader development 
that established interferometry as a general 
purpose, high.precision measurement 
technique, which devdoped through a 
number of different p=r setups. But 
instead of connecting this experimental 
prehistory of a central argument for the 
emergence of relativity theoty directly to its 
theoretical reception, Staley next shifts his 
focus to a different subject. He discusses, 
again in rich and persuasive detail, the 
World Fair of 1900 that took place in Paris 
as well as the accompanying international 
congress of physics. Staley pointedly poses an 
intriguing question: Why did this huge and 
monumental meeting of thousands of 
physicists, who came together in Paris to 
present the best research of the time and to 
rake account of the frontiers of knowledge 
and of the most critical problems for the 
twentieth century, Dot leave any trace in our 
collective memory of the emergence of 
modern physics? Staley attempts to present 
an answer to this question by what he sees 
as a substantial and far-reaching 
reinterpretation of the history of the 
discipline of physics by its participants over 
the next few years. In order to make his 
case, Staley then proceeds to a discussion of 
the contemporary perception of the problem 
of the dectton. His point here is well taken. 
He reminds us, and illustrates with 
compelling contemporary evidence, that the 
debate about the role of the principle of 
relativity was seen at the time within the 
context of a theory of the electron as a 
fundamental constituent of mattec, a 
discussion that engendered more far· 
reaching debates about the feasibility of an 
decttodynamic world-view. To conclude his 
argument, Staley finally discusses the role of 
the famous 1911 Solvay meeting of a few 
elite experts in Brussels for the establishment 
of a new historical perspective of what we 
now see as the emergence of modem physics 
161 
from its classical past. Analyzing the various 
contemporary connotations of the word 
'classical', Staley shows us bow participants 
of the Solvay meeting and active 
theoreticians involved in the daboration of 
the new relativity and quantum theories used 
the notion of a contrast between 'classical' 
and 'modem', between 'old' and 'new' to 
establish the perception of the new 
conceptrtal frameworks as a deep break with 
a disoonoected past. 
Throughout the book Staley argues 
against what he perceives as shortcomings 
of the existing accounts of the history of 
relativity and early quantum theory. But he 
rarely points out misrepresentations or 
mistakes in those accounts in any concrete 
detail, nor does he offer anything like a 
history of the emergence of the central 
concepts of relativity and modem quantum 
theory. Despite the rich picture of the 
broader cultural background of late-
nineteenth, early-twentieth century pbysics 
that Staley's well·written book provides, 
readers interested in the actual emergence 
of the core concepts of modern physics still 
have to consult the existing literature 
dedicated specifically to these issues. 
TILMAN SAUER 
BRUNO STRASSER, La jabrique d1une nouvelle 
science: La biologie moleculaire Ii Page 
atomique (1945-1964). Firenze: Leo S. 
Olschki Editore, 2006. xxxmt450 pp., 
ISBN 978-88-222-5496-1. 
In this wonderful account of the 
development of molecular biology in 
Geneva, Bruno Strasser shows how 
focusing on a point at the periphery can 
shed light on central features of an 
emerging fidd. Through his case be engages 
three classic themes of the historiography: 
how molecular biology originated, the 
position of physicists in this process, and 
the role of instrumentation. As Strasser 
points out, the secondary literature tends to 
focus discussions of molecular biology in 


Einstein's Generation: The Origins of the Relativity Revolution

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