DROSTE, Johannes. Het zwaartekrachtsveld van een op meer lichamen volgens de theorie van Einstein. Leiden, E. J. Brill, 1916. original grey wrappers, 4to, xii + 72 pp.; very good copy, uncut, wrappers slightly discolored at the edges
Rare copy of Johannes Droste’s PhD thesis submitted to H.A. Lorentz in 1916, containing the first introduction of the little known concept of gravitational repulsion. After Einstein completed his formulation of General Relativity on 25 November 1915, Droste discovered that particles of sufficiently high velocity in a spherical symmetric gravitational field of a point mass according to Einstein’s theory experience repulsion rather than attraction. Einstein was familiar with Droste’s thesis, saying it is “good”.
