H1 - Einstein Theories: Historical Perspective |
Speaker_ |
Pfister, Herbert |
Talk _ |
The history of the so-called Lense-Thirring effect |
Abstract _ |
Some historical documents, especially the Einstein-Besso manuscript from 1913, an extensive notebook by Thirring from 1917, and a correspondence between Thirring and Einstein from 1917 reveal that most of the merit of the so-called Lense-Thirring effect belongs to Einstein. Besides this "central story" of the effect, I comment on some prehistory, with contributions by Mach, Friedlaender, and Foeppl, and I follow the later history of the problem of a correct centrifugal force inside a rotating mass shell which was resolved only relatively recently. I also shortly comment on recent possibilities to confirm the so-called Lense-Thirring effect, and the related Schiff effect, experimentally. |