In view of the forthcoming "Einstein Year" and all that will be said about the significance of the year 1905, I thought it would be worth stating the following, gleaned from the excellent biography of Einstein by Abraham Païs: Subtle is the Lord. This book is most detailed on the scientific side of Einstein's life, incorporating much useful history of the background and development of the key areas of Einstein's work. According to Païs, in 1905 Einstein wrote no fewer than six key papers. These were all published in Annalen der Physik.

The four marked * appeared in Volumes 17,18 (1905) and the remaining two in Volume 19 (1906). The dates given all refer to the year 1905 and indicate either the date of completion or the date of acceptance by the journal.

• 17 March (17 132-148): On a heuristic viewpoint concerning the generation and transformation of light.
  This dealt with the concept of the light quantum (photon) and gave a quantitative theory of the photoelectric effect.
  
  
• 30 April (19 289-305): A new determination of molecular dimensions.
  Einstein showed how to derive - from macroscopic measurements - both the Avogadro number and the radius of the molecule of a solid dissolved in a liquid. This was also Einstein's PhD dissertation submitted to the Department of Physics, University of Zurich.
  
  
• 11 May (17 549-560): On the motion of particles suspended in a stationary fluid, as demanded by the molecular kinetic theory of heat.
  This was Einstein's first paper on the Brownian Motion first observed by the Scottish botanist Robert Brown in 1827. He derives predictions for the displacement of microscopic particles suspended in a fluid.
  
  
• 30 June (17 891-921): On the electrodynamics of moving bodies.
  This was Einstein's first paper on Special Relativity.
  
  
• 27 Sept (18 639-641): Does the inertia of a body depend on its energy content?
  This was Einstein's second paper on Special Relativity and introduced the equation E=mc²
  
  
• 19 Dec (19371-379): Theory of Brownian motion.
  This was Einstein's second paper on the Brownian Motion. Einstein extends his analysis of the first paper to the rotational motion of suspended particles.

The importance of these papers cannot be overstated. Collectively they:

1. put beyond doubt the reality of the atomic hypothesis of matter;
2. placed the concept of the light quantum (photon) on a firm basis, and
3. unified classical mechanics and classical electromagnetism(electrodynamics) .

Note: A most useful summary of Einstein's papers for the decade 1905-1915 can be found in Cornelius Lanczos: The Einstein Decade (Paul Elek Scientific Books Ltd 1974).

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