We ask: if we determine the ratio of two masses in both ways described above, do we

obtain the same result? The answer given by experiment is quite clear. The results are exactly
the same! This conclusion could not have been foreseen, and is based on observation, not
reason. Let us, for the sake of simplicity, call the mass determined in the first way the
inertial mass and that determined in the second way the gravitational man. In our world
it happens that they are equal, but we can well imagine that this should not have been the
case at all. Another question arises immediately: is this identity of the two kinds of mass
purely accidental, or does it have a deeper significance? The answer, from the point of
view of classical physics, is: the identity of the two masses is accidental and no deeper
significance should be attached to it. The answer of modern physics is just the opposite:
the identity of the two masses is fundamental and forms a new and essential clue leading
to a more profound understanding. This was, in fact, one of the most important clues
from which the so-called general theory of relativity was developed.
A mystery story seems inferior if it explains strange events as accidents. It is
certainly more satisfying to have the story follow a rational pattern. In exactly the
same way a theory which offers an explanation for the identity of gravitational and
inertial mass is superior to one which interprets their identity as accidental, provided,
of course, that the two theories are equally consistent with observed facts.
Since this identity of inertial and gravitational mass was fundamental for the
formulation of the theory of relativity, we are justified in examining it a little more
closely here. What experiments prove convincingly that the two masses are the same?
The answer lies in Galileo’s old experiment in which he dropped different masses
from a tower. He noticed that the time required for the fall was always the same, that
the motion of a falling body does not depend on the mass. To link this simple but
highly important experimental result with the identity of the two masses needs some
rather intricate reasoning.