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Tilman Sauer (born 1963) is a German theoretical physicist and historian of the natural sciences. He has an international reputation as an expert on the history of the development of general relativity theory.

Education and career

At the Free University of Berlin, Sauer received in 1990 his Diplom in theoretical physics and in 1994 his doctorate (Promotion) in theoretical physics. His doctoral dissertation is entitled Development and Application of Refined Path Monte Carlo Methods. From 1991 to 1996 he was employed as a research scholar at Berlin's Max Planck Institute for Human Development. In 1996 from March to December he worked at Berlin's Max Planck Institute for the History of Science. From 1997 to 1999 he worked for the project Hilbert-Edition at the University of Göttingen's Institute for the History of Science. From 1999 to 2001 he was an assistant professor (Hochschulassistent) at the University of Bern's Institute for the History of Science, where he eventually completed his habilitation in the history of science in 2008. From December 2008 to September 2015 he was a Privatdozent at the University of Bern. Sauer has held various academic appointments in the history department at Caltech since 2001. For the academic year 2010–2011 at the University of Bern, he held an interim chair (Lehrstuhlvertretung) for the history and philosophy of science. At the University of Mainz, he has been, since 2015, a professor for the history of mathematics and natural sciences.

Sauer has done much research on the history of general relativity (GR) in the scientific work of Albert Einstein and co-edited for the Einstein Papers Project volumes 9 through 14 and also volume 16. He was a contributing editor for volume 4. Specifically, he edited the scientific manuscripts on GR and unified field theory. With Jürgen Renn, Sauer investigated and published Einstein's 1912 Zurich notebook, which is important for the history of the emergence of GR.

Einstein seems to have delayed until 1936 publishing an important idea he had in 1912. Renn and Sauer explicated the role that Rudi W. Mandl played in urging Einstein to publish on gravitational lensing.

Sauer also researched David Hilbert's contributions to the early history of GR and the Hilbert-Einstein priority dispute and Hilbert's program on the foundations of physics. The priority dispute is, among other things, about the question of what is written on a missing page of a page proof of Hilbert's paper — Sauer is of the opinion that the complete Einstein field equations were not found by Hilbert.

Sauer's research also includes, among other topics, the history of Richard Feynman's research and the development of the theory of path integrals.

In 2016 Sauer gave the historical lecture „Ich bewundere die Eleganz Ihrer Rechnungsweise“ - Einstein und die Mathematik (I admire the elegance of your calculations — Einstein and mathematics), which was part of the events accompanying the Euler Lecture.

Selected publications

Articles

• Renn, J.; Sauer, T. (September 1996). "Einsteins Züricher Notizbuch: Die Entdeckung der Feldgleichungen der Gravitation im Jahre 1912". Physikalische Blätter. 52 (9): 865–872. doi:10.1002/phbl.19960520907. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-002A-9BA1-0.{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  • Einsteins Züricher Notizbuch, Preprint MPI Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin
• Sauer, Tilman (November 2006). "Field equations in teleparallel space–time: Einstein's Fernparallelismus approach toward unified field theory". Historia Mathematica. 33 (4): 399–439. arXiv:physics/0405142. doi:10.1016/j.hm.2005.11.005.

Book chapters

• The expanding worlds of general relativity. Einstein Studies, volume 7. Springer Science & Business Media. 1998. ISBN 0-8176-4060-6; edited by Hubert Goenner, Jürgen Renn, Jim Ritter, and Tilman Sauer{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • Chapter. Heuristics and Mathematical Representation in Einstein's Search for a Gravitational Field Equation by Jürgen Renn and Tilman Sauer, pages 87–126
• Reworking the bench. Research notebooks in the history of science. Archimedes, Volume 7, New Studies in the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology. Kluwer. 2003. pp. 253–268. ISBN 1-4020-1039-7; edited by Frederic Lawrence Holmes, Jürgen Renn, and Hans-Jörg Rheinberger{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • Chapter. Errors and insights: reconstructing the genesis of general relativity from Einstein’s Zürich notebook by Jürgen Renn and Tilman Sauer, pages 253–268
• Landmark Writings 1640–1940. Elsevier. 2005. ISBN 0-444-50871-6; edited by Ivor Grattan-Guinness{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
  • Book Chapter. Albert Einstein’s 1916 Review Article on General Relativity by Tilman Sauer, pages 802–822. arXiv preprint
• The Genesis of General Relativity. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Vol. 1. Dordrecht: Springer. 2007; edited by Jürgen Renn{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link); . ISBN 9781402039997. LCCN 2007440325. {{cite book}}: Missing or empty |title= (help) table of contents
  • Chapter. Einstein’s Zürich Notebook. Introduction and Source. Introduction to Volumes 1 and 2: The Zurich Notebook and the Genesis of General Relativity by Michel Janssen, John D. Norton, Jürgen Renn, Tilman Sauer, and John Stachel, pages 7–20
  • Chapter. Pathways Out of Classical Physics: Einstein’s Double Strategy in his Search for the Gravitational Field Equation by Jürgen Renn and Tilman Sauer, pages 113–312
• The Genesis of General Relativity. Boston Studies in the Philosophy of Science. Vol. 2. Springer; edited by Jürgen Renn{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link); table of contents
  • Chapter. A Commentary on the Notes on Gravity in the Zurich Notebook by Michel Janssen, Jürgen Renn, Tilman Sauer, John D. Norton, and John Stachel, pages 489–714

Books

• Renn, J.; Sauer, T. (1995). "Einsteins Züricher Notizbuch: die Entdeckung der Feldgleichungen der Gravitation im Jahre 1912". Physikalische Blätter. 52 (9). Berlin: Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte: 865–872. doi:10.1002/phbl.19960520907. hdl:11858/00-001M-0000-002A-7366-9.
• The expanding worlds of general relativity. Einstein Studies, volume 7. Springer Science & Business Media. 1998. ISBN 0-8176-4060-6; edited by Hubert Goenner, Jürgen Renn, Jim Ritter, and Tilman Sauer{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Hilbert, David (2009). David Hilbert's lectures on the foundations of physics, 1915-1927 : relativity, quantum theory and epistemology. Dordrecht; New York: Springer. ISBN 978-3-540-20606-4; edited by Tilman Sauer & Ulrich Majer in collaboration with Arne Schirrmacher and Heinz-Jürgen Schmidt{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Philosophy of Historical Case Studies. Cham, Switzerland: Springer International Publishing. 2016. ISBN 978-3-319-30227-0; edited by Tilman Sauer and Raphael Scholl{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)
• Beyond Einstein : Perspectives on Geometry, Gravitation, and Cosmology in the Twentieth Century. New York, NY: Springer New York. 2018. ISBN 978-1-4939-7706-2; edited by David E. Rowe, Tilman Sauer, and Scott A. Walter{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link)

References

1. ^ "CV Tilman Sauer". Geschichte der Mathematik, Universität Mainz.
2. "Tilman Sauer. List of Publications, Date: February 15, 2021" (PDF). Universität Mainz.
3. Sauer, Tilman (2004). "Albert Einstein's 1916 Review Article on General Relativity". arXiv:physics/0405066.
4. ^ Sauer, Tilman (2004). "The challenge of editing Einstein's scientific manuscripts". Documentary Editing. 26: 145–165. arXiv:physics/0412142. Bibcode:2004physics..12142S.
5. Majer, Ulrich (2010). "The Hilbert Edition: What is it and what is it good for?". Philosophia Scientiae. 14 (1): 141–152. doi:10.4000/philosophiascientiae.138.
6. Brief biography of Sauer, Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
7. "PD Dr. Tilman Sauer". 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-10-02.
8. The importance of the 1912 Zurich notebook was first recognized by John Stachel. Using the 1912 notebook, parts of the GR early history were developed by John D. Norton and published in 1984. Norton, John (1984). "How Einstein found his field equations, 1912-1915" (PDF). Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences. 14 (2): 253–316. doi:10.2307/27757535. JSTOR 27757535. Among other things, Norton found that Einstein had already in 1912 developed ideas on gravitational lensing, which were first published in the 1936 paper Lens-like action of a star by deviation of light in the gravitational field, doi:10.1126/science.84.2188.506.
9. Renn, Jürgen; Sauer, Tilman; Stachel, John (1997). "The origin of gravitational lensing: A postscript to Einstein's 1936 Science paper". Science. 275 (5297): 184–186. Bibcode:1997Sci...275..184R. doi:10.1126/science.275.5297.184. PMID 8985006. S2CID 43449111.
10. "Eclipses of the stars: Mandl, Einstein, and the early history of gravitational lensing by J. Renn and T. Sauer". Revisiting the Foundations of Relativistic Physics: Festschrift in Honor of John Stachel. Kluwer. 2003. pp. 69–92; Abhay Ashtekar, Robert Cohen, Don Howard, Jürgen Renn, Sahotra Sarkar, Abner Shimony (eds.){{cite book}}: CS1 maint: postscript (link) preprint, translated into German in Renn, J.; Sauer, T. (2005). "Im Rampenlicht der Sterne. Einstein, Mandl und die Ursprünge der Gravitationslinsenforschung; Im Rampenlicht dedddddddddr Sterne. Einstein, Mandl und die Ursprünge der Gravitationslinsenforschung". Acta Historica Astronomiae. 27: 210–239. Bibcode:2005AcHA...27..210R.
11. Siegfried, Tom (October 1, 2015). "The amateur who helped Einstein see the light". Science News (Sciencenews.org).
12. Sauer, T. (1999). "The Relativity of Discovery: Hilbert's First Note on the Foundations of Physics". Archive for History of Exact Sciences. 53: 529–575. arXiv:physics/9811050.
13. Sauer, T. (2005). "Einstein equations and Hilbert action: What is missing from page 8 of the evidence for Hilbert's first communication on the foundations of physics?". Archive for History of Exact Sciences. 59: 577–590. doi:10.1007/s00407-005-0100-6.. The first set of page proofs of Hilbert's paper was investigated by Leo Corry, Jürgen Renn, and John Stachel. Corry, L.; Renn, J.; Stachel, J. (1997). "Belated decision in the Hilbert-Einstein priority dispute". Science. 278 (5341): 1270–1273. Bibcode:1997Sci...278.1270C. doi:10.1126/science.278.5341.1270. Daniela Wuensch [de] disputed the opinions of Corry, Renn, and Stachel. Wünsch, Daniela (2005). "New research on the discovery of the field equations of the general relativity by David Hilbert and Albert Einstein" (PDF). Astronomische Nachrichten. 326: 636–637. Bibcode:2005AN....326..636W.
14. Sauer, Tilman (2001). "The Feynman path goes Monte Carlo". In Bachmann, Michael; Janke, Wolfhard; Pelster, Axel; Schmidt, Hans-Jürgen (eds.). Fluctuating paths and fields: festschrift dedicated to Hagen Kleinert on the occasion of his 60th birthday. World Scientific. pp. 29–42. arXiv:physics/0107010. doi:10.1142/9789812811240_0003. ISBN 978-981-02-4648-8. S2CID 11013017.
15. Sauer, Tilman (2008). "Remarks on the origin of path integration: Einstein and Feynman by Tilman Sauer". In Janke, Wolfhard; Pelster, Axel (eds.). Path Integrals—New Trends and Perspectives: Proceedings of the 9th International Conference, held in Dresden, Germany, September 23 – 28, 2007. World Scientific. pp. 3–13. arXiv:0801.1654. doi:10.1142/9789812837271_0001. ISBN 978-981-283-726-4. S2CID 14502716.
16. "Euler-Vorlesung: Archiv".

External links

• "Prof. Dr. Tilman Sauer". Universität Mainz.
• "Tilman Sauer". Division of Humanities and Social Sciences, Caltech.

• 1963 births
• Living people
• German historians of science
• 20th-century German historians
• 21st-century German historians
• 20th-century German physicists
• 21st-century German physicists
• Free University of Berlin alumni
• University of Bern alumni
• Academic staff of the University of Bern
• California Institute of Technology people
• Academic staff of Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz