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Alfred Kleiner (24 April 1849 – 3 July 1916) was a Swiss physicist and Professor of
Experimental Physics Experimental physics is the category of disciplines and sub-disciplines in the field of physics that are concerned with the observation of physical phenomena and experiments. Methods vary from discipline to discipline, from simple experiments and ...
at the
University of Zurich The University of Zürich (UZH, german: Universität Zürich) is a public research university located in the city of Zürich, Switzerland. It is the largest university in Switzerland, with its 28,000 enrolled students. It was founded in 1833 f ...
. He was
Albert Einstein Albert Einstein ( ; ; 14 March 1879 – 18 April 1955) was a German-born theoretical physicist, widely acknowledged to be one of the greatest and most influential physicists of all time. Einstein is best known for developing the theory ...
's doctoral advisor or ''Doktorvater.'' Initially Einstein's advisor was Heinrich F. Weber. However, they had a major falling out, and Einstein chose to switch to Kleiner.


Education

He received his PhD in 1874 from the University of Zurich, for a thesis entitled ''Zur Theorie der intermittirenden Netzhautreizung'' (on the theory of diffusion of light), under
Johann Jakob Müller Johann Jakob Müller (4 March 1846 – 14 January 1875) was a notable physiologist and physicist. Education In 1868, he obtained his "Dr. med." degree from the University of Zurich, under Adolf Fick with a thesis entitled: ''Untersuchungen übe ...
.


Career

Alfred Kleiner was professor of physics at the University of Zurich. He also held several other positions and titles throughout his career, including: ''
Privatdozent ''Privatdozent'' (for men) or ''Privatdozentin'' (for women), abbreviated PD, P.D. or Priv.-Doz., is an academic title conferred at some European universities, especially in German-speaking countries, to someone who holds certain formal qualific ...
'' (private lecturer) in 1870, ''
Außerordentlicher Professor Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...
'' (Associate Professor) in 1880, ''
Ordentlicher Professor Academic ranks in Germany are the titles, relative importance and power of professors, researchers, and administrative personnel held in academia. Overview Appointment grades * (Pay grade: ''W3'' or ''W2'') * (''W3'') * (''W2'') * (''W2'', ...
'' (Full Professor) in 1885, ''Rektor'' (Chancellor) from 1908 to 1910, ''Honorarprofessor'' (Emeritus Professor) in 1915, and ''Privatdozent'' from 1875 to 1885 at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology The Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology are two institutes of higher education in Switzerland (part of the ETH Domain): * Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland *Swiss people ...
, also called
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich (colloquially) , former_name = eidgenössische polytechnische Schule , image = ETHZ.JPG , image_size = , established = , type = Public , budget = CHF 1.896 billion (2021) , rector = Günther Dissertori , president = Joël Mesot , a ...
or ETH (the "Polytechnikum", also at Zurich). In the early 1890s, with his students Fritz Laager and Theordor Erismann, Kleiner conducted experiments to determine if changes in gravitational attraction could be caused by shielding. No effect greater than the experimental error was observed. Kleiner published his results on this in 1905, Laager in 1904, and Erismann in 1908 and 1911. Their work on this was motivated by the papers by Louis Winslow Austin and Charles Burton Thwing.


Einstein and Kleiner

Einstein's controversy with
Paul Drude Paul Karl Ludwig Drude (; 12 July 1863 – 5 July 1906) was a German physicist specializing in optics. He wrote a fundamental textbook integrating optics with Maxwell's theories of electromagnetism. Education Born into an ethnic German family, D ...
took place in the middle of 1901. It was at this time that Einstein transitioned from Weber to Kleiner and changed his dissertation topic from thermoelectricity to molecular kinetics. Until 1909 the ETH was not authorized to grant doctoral degrees, so a special arrangement enabled ETH students to obtain doctorates from the University of Zurich. At that time, most dissertations in physics by ETH students were carried out under the supervision of H.F. Weber, Einstein's former teacher at the ''Polytechnikum'', as it was then called. The University of Zurich had only one physics chair, held by Alfred Kleiner. His main research was focused on measuring instruments, but he also had an interest in the foundations of physics. In letters to
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, Einstein noted the frequent discussions that he had with Kleiner on a wide range of topics. On 19 December 1901, Einstein writes to Marić that he had: Einstein also showed Kleiner his first PhD thesis dissertation in November 1901. However, Einstein withdrew his dissertation in February 1902. One year later he considered giving up his plan to obtain a doctorate and noted to his friend
Michele Besso Michele Angelo Besso (Riesbach, 25 May 1873 – Geneva, 15 March 1955) was a Swiss-Italian engineer best known for working closely with Albert Einstein. Biography Besso was born in Riesbach from a family of Italian Jewish (Sephardi) descent. H ...
that "the whole comedy has become tiresome for me." By March 1903 Einstein had changed his mind. Indeed, a letter to Besso contains some of the central ideas of the 1905 dissertation. Kleiner was, of course, one of the two faculty reviewers of the dissertation, submitted by Einstein to the University on 20 July 1905. Kleiner's judgement of the dissertation was very positive: "the arguments and calculations to be carried out are among the most difficult in hydrodynamics." The other reviewer,
Heinrich Burkhardt Heinrich Friedrich Karl Ludwig Burkhardt (15 October 1861 – 2 November 1914) was a German mathematician. He famously was one of the two examiners of Albert Einstein's PhD thesis ''Eine neue Bestimmung der Moleküldimensionen''. Of Einstein' ...
, Professor for Mathematics at the university, added: "the mode of treatment demonstrates fundamental mastery of the relevant mathematical methods." In his biography of Einstein,
Carl Seelig Carl Seelig (May 11, 1894, Zurich – February 15, 1962, Zurich) was a German-Swiss writer and patron. He was best known as a friend, promoter and guardian of Robert Walser and the first biographer of Albert Einstein. Life The son of a wealthy f ...
reports: "Einstein later laughingly recounted that his dissertation was first returned by Kleiner with the comment that it was too short. After he had added a single sentence, it was accepted without further comment." Einstein's earlier
statistical physics Statistical physics is a branch of physics that evolved from a foundation of statistical mechanics, which uses methods of probability theory and statistics, and particularly the Mathematics, mathematical tools for dealing with large populations ...
papers (from 1902 to 1904) developed the foundations of a theoretical approach that he applied to concrete problems in 1905 and in subsequent years. His approach combined skepticism about classical mechanics with a firm belief in molecules and a confidence in statistical principles. However, Einstein's PhD thesis does not follow this statistical approach. It has been argued that Einstein avoided his own theoretical ideas to win the approval of his PhD advisor, Alfred Kleiner.. In 1905 Einstein obtained his doctorate from the University of Zurich under Alfred Kleiner, with the thesis entitled ''Eine neue Bestimmung der Moleküldimensionen'' (A New Determination of the Molecular Dimensions). After Einstein concluded a 1909 lecture at the University of Zurich on electrodynamics and relativity, Alfred Kleiner suggested the possibility of a position at the university to Einstein and recommended him for a newly created professorship in theoretical physics. On 7 May 1909 the ''Regierungsrat des Kantons Zürich'' appointed Einstein as an associate professor, effective from 15 October 1909, with a salary of 4,500 Swiss Francs per annum.


Notes


External links


Einstein's dissertation
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Kleiner, Alfred 1849 births 1916 deaths Academic staff of ETH Zurich People from Affoltern District Swiss physicists University of Zurich alumni Academic staff of the University of Zurich