Electricity and Gravitation

Abstract

[Translated by Dr. Robert W. Lawson.] MODERN physics renders it probable that the only fundamental forces in Nature are those which have their origin in gravitation and in the electromagnetic field. After the effects proceeding from the electromagnetic field had been co-ordinated by Faraday and Maxwell into laws of striking simplicity and clearness, it became necessary to attempt to explain gravitation also on the basis of electromagnetism, or at least to fit it into its proper place in the scheme of electromagnetic laws, in order to arrive at a unification of ideas. This was actually done by H. A. Lorentz, G. Mie, and others, although the success of their work was not wholly convincing. At the present time, however, in virtue of Einstein's general theory of relativity, we understand in principle the nature of gravitation, and the problem is reversed. It is necessary to regard electromagnetic phenomena, as well as gravitation, as an outcome of the geometry of the universe. I believe that this is possible when we liberate the world-geometry (on which Einstein based his theory) from an inherent inconsistency, which is still associated with it as a consequence of our previous Euclidean conceptions.