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ON THE GENERALIZED THEORY OF GRAVITATION 341
that are transferred to the disintegration products ]\1[' and 111".
Thus it has become possible to test and confirm the equivalence
formula. Also, the law permits us to calculate in advance,
from precisely determined atomic weights, just how much energy
will be released with any atomic disintegration we have in
mind. The law says nothing, of course, as to whether-or how
-the disintegration reaction can be brought about.
What takes place can be illustrated with the help of our
rich man. The atom M is a rich miser who, during his life,
gives away no money (energy). But in his will be bequeaths
his fortune to his sons M' and 111", on condition that they give
to the community a small amount, less than one-thousandth
of the whole estate (energy or mass). The sons together have
somewhat less than the father had (the mass sum M' + M" is
somewhat smaller than the mass M of the radioactive atom).
But the part given to the community, though relatively small,
is still so enormously large (considered as kinetic energy) that
it brings with it a great threat of evil. Averting that threat
has become the most urgent problem of our time.
ON THE GENERAJ.JZFn THEORY OF GRAVITATION
From Scientific American, Tlol. 182, No.4. April,1950.
The editors of. Scientific American have asked me to write
about my recent ·work which has just been published. It is a
mathematical investigation concerning the foundations of field
physics.
Some readers may be puzzled: didn't we learn all about the
foundations of physics when we were still at school? The answer
is "yes" or "no," depending on the interpretation. We have
become acquainted with concepts and general relations that
enable us to comprehend an immense range of e"periences
and make them accessible to mathematical treatment. In a
certain sense these concepts and relations are probably even
final. This is true, for example, of the laws of light refraction,
of the relations of classical thermodynamics as far as it is based
on the concepts of pressure, volume, temperature, heat, and