MATTER NOT REALITY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 3 September 1938, Page 7

MATTER NOT REALITY

EINSTEIN’S DECLARATION. FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS. Re-examining matter and energy, Professor Albert Einstein, of relativity fame, finds that neither qualifies as the fundamental reality of the universe. In his new book, he seeks a connection between “the world of ideas and the world of phenomena,” between the immaterial and the material. He believes the primary important existence, is not atomic nor particle in nature, but “the field,” something that is associated with matter but is not necessarily limited by it. “Physics really began,” Dr Einstein writes, “with the invention of mass, force, and an inertial system. For the physicist of the early nineteenth century, the reality of our outer world consisted of particles with simple forces acting between them and depending only on the distance. He tried to retain as long as possible his belief that he would succeed in explaining all events in nature by these fundamental concepts. ' “But the difficulties connected with the deflection of the magnetic needle, the difficulties connected with the structure of ether, induced us to create a more subtle reality. The important invention of the electromagnetic field field appears. A courageous scientific imagination was needed to realise fully that not the behaviour of bodies, but the behaviour of something between them, that is, the field, may be essential for ordering and understanding events.” Dr Einstein explains that gravitation is a phase of this “field” which everyone experiences. Electro-magnetism is another phase, illustrated by the production of wireless waves, and magnetism still another. A person may be subjected to a very strong magnetic field and be uninfluenced —yet his pocket-w'atch is very sensitive —in fact it will stop. “We can regard matter as the regions in space where the field is particularly strong,” he said.

“The reality created by modern physics is, indeed, far removed from the reality of the early days. But the aim of every phyical theory still remains the same.

“With the help of physical theories we find our way through the maze of observed facts, to order and understand the world of our sense impressions. We want the observed facts to follow logically from our concept of reality. Without the belief that it is possible to grasp the, reality with our theoretical constructions, without the belief in the inner harmony of our world, there could be no science.” Yet in spite of the strength of these newer, modern theories, relativity and quanta, strength which lies in their inner consistency and the simplicity of fundamental assumption, natural science has yet been unable to formulate a pure field physics. This Dr Einstein freely admitted during an interview, and again in the summary of his chapter on “Field, Relativity” in his new book. He writes:

“For the present we must still assume the existence of both: field and matter.”

“It would be unjust to consider that the new field view freed science from the errors of the old theory of electric fluids or that the new theory destroys the achievement of the old,” they conclude. “The new theory shows the merits as well as the limitations of the old theory and allows us to regain our old concepts from a higher level. “To use a comparison, we could say that creating a new theory is not like destroying an old barn and erecting a skyscraper in its place. It is rather like climbing a mountain, gaining new and wider views, discovering unexpected connections between our starting point and its rich environment.”