The Foundations of Physics (First Communication)

Abstract

The vast problems posed by Einstein1 as well as his ingeniously conceived methods of solution, and the far-reaching ideas and formation of novel concepts by means of which Mie2 constructs his electrodynamics, have opened new paths for the investigation into the foundations of physics. In the following---in the sense of the axiomatic method---I would like to develop, essentially from two simple axioms, a new system of basic equations of physics, of ideal beauty and containing, I believe, simultaneously the solution to the problems of Einstein and of Mie. I reserve for later communications the detailed development and particularly the special application of my basic equations to the fundamental questions of the theory of electricity.