What was the title of Einstein's first scientific paper, published in 1901?

Einstein’s first scientific paper, published in 1901, was titled “Conclusions from the Capillarity Phenomena.” The paper appeared in Annalen der Physik and examined how liquids behave at their surfaces, especially the phenomenon of capillarity, in which liquid rises or falls in narrow tubes.

The subject may seem far removed from Einstein’s later work on relativity, but it reflected his early interest in molecular forces and statistical physics. Einstein tried to connect the macroscopic behavior of liquids with interactions between individual molecules. His approach assumed that intermolecular forces could be described in a way resembling Newtonian gravitational forces.

The paper was not one of Einstein’s famous breakthroughs, and parts of its molecular model were later shown to be incorrect. It is nevertheless historically important because it marked the beginning of his published scientific career. The title is also translated in slightly different ways, including “Conclusions Drawn from the Phenomena of Capillarity.”

A common mix-up is to identify one of Einstein’s 1905 papers as his first scientific publication. “On a Heuristic Point of View Concerning the Production and Transformation of Light” concerned light quanta, while “On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” introduced special relativity; both came four years later.