Jakob Laub
Jakob Johann Laub was born on the 7th of February 1884 in Rzeszów, a city then part of Austria-Hungary, and he died on the 22nd of April 1962 in Fribourg. His name appears in the history of physics not as a soloist, but as a collaborator at one of the most pivotal junctures in modern science. When Laub traveled to Bern in 1908 to meet Albert Einstein, he found the man who had already rewritten the laws of physics still sitting at a desk in a patent office. Laub had a phrase for that: a "stair joke of history." What brought a young physicist from Rzeszów to Bern, and what did he and Einstein actually build together? Those are the questions this documentary sets out to answer.
Laub was the son of Abraham Laub and Anna Maria Schenborn. His schooling began at the High School in Rzeszów, and from there he moved through several of the most important universities in Central Europe. At the University of Göttingen he studied mathematics under David Hilbert, Woldemar Voigt, Walther Nernst, Karl Schwarzschild, and Hermann Minkowski. That last name would become significant. Minkowski was quietly building the four-dimensional framework that would eventually define how physicists thought about space and time. Laub then moved to the University of Würzburg, where he completed his doctorate in 1907. Shortly after, he developed close professional ties with Wilhelm Wien, Arnold Sommerfeld, Johannes Stark, and Albert Einstein.
In 1905, Laub investigated cathode rays together with Wilhelm Wien, a line of experimental work that drew him deeper into the questions electrodynamics was raising at the time. By 1907 he had written what would be described as an important work on the optics of moving bodies. Then, in 1908, came the collaboration that would mark his career most visibly. Together with Einstein, Laub wrote several papers targeting the basic electromagnetic equations of special relativity. Their shared aim was to replace Minkowski's four-dimensional formulation of electrodynamics with a simpler, more classical approach. Both men believed the spacetime formalism was unnecessarily complicated. History would not agree with them. Minkowski's framework turned out to be fundamental to the further development of special relativity, and the alternative Laub and Einstein proposed did not take hold. Still, Laub went on to publish papers on relativistic effects within gases, and in 1910 he wrote one of the first survey articles on relativity.
Laub converted from the Jewish to the Catholic faith at some point in his life, and he also changed his given name from the Polish form "Jakub" to the German "Jakob Johann." In 1909 he became a co-worker of Philipp Lenard at the University of Heidelberg. Two years later, in 1911, he emigrated with his wife Ruth Elisa Wendt to Argentina. There he worked at the geophysical and astronomical observatory in La Plata before obtaining a leading position in a physics department in Buenos Aires. He eventually accepted Argentine nationality, adopting the Spanish variant of his name: Jacobo Juan. With that new national identity came a new professional direction. He entered the diplomatic service of Argentina, a career that took him far from the physics laboratories of Göttingen and Heidelberg.
In 1947 Laub returned to Germany, settling in Freiburg. The move brought financial difficulties, and to manage them he sold part of his correspondence with Einstein. Those letters, written across decades of contact that had begun with shared papers on electrodynamics, passed out of his hands under economic pressure. The sale speaks to the distance that had grown between the young physicist who once called Einstein's patent-office existence a historical joke and the older man who found himself in economic trouble in postwar Germany. He had written frequently with Einstein and counted him as a friend. The correspondence he let go was a record of that friendship as much as a document of scientific history.
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Who was Jakob Laub and why is he significant in physics?
Jakob Johann Laub was a physicist born on the 7th of February 1884 in Rzeszów, in what was then Austria-Hungary. He is best known for collaborating with Albert Einstein in the early period of special relativity, including co-authoring papers on the basic electromagnetic equations of the theory in 1908.
What did Jakob Laub and Albert Einstein work on together?
In 1908, Laub and Einstein co-wrote several papers on the basic electromagnetic equations of special relativity. Their goal was to replace Hermann Minkowski's four-dimensional spacetime formulation of electrodynamics with a simpler, more classical approach. Minkowski's framework ultimately proved more fundamental and became the standard.
Where did Jakob Laub study and who were his teachers?
Laub studied at the University of Vienna, the University of Kraków, and the University of Göttingen, where his teachers included David Hilbert, Woldemar Voigt, Walther Nernst, Karl Schwarzschild, and Hermann Minkowski. He completed his doctorate at the University of Würzburg in 1907.
Why did Jakob Laub emigrate to Argentina?
Laub emigrated to Argentina in 1911 with his wife Ruth Elisa Wendt. After arriving, he worked at the geophysical and astronomical observatory in La Plata and later held a leading position in a physics department in Buenos Aires. He eventually accepted Argentine nationality and entered the country's diplomatic service.
What happened to Jakob Laub's correspondence with Einstein?
After returning to Germany in 1947 and settling in Freiburg, Laub encountered financial difficulties and sold part of his correspondence with Einstein. The letters documented decades of contact between the two men, beginning with their scientific collaboration in 1908.
What was Jakob Laub's view of Minkowski's spacetime formalism?
Laub and Einstein both considered Minkowski's four-dimensional spacetime formulation of electrodynamics too complicated, and they worked together in 1908 to replace it with a more classical approach. Their alternative did not prevail; Minkowski's formalism proved fundamental to the further development of special relativity.
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