CALENDAR 1920 5 6 9
matica dedicated to the memory of Henri Poincaré. A dead-
line of mid-July is proposed. [17 382].
3-page ALS from Gaston Moch. Hopes that the other pro-
spective translator of Einstein 1917a will have another task
(see Einstein to Moch, 30 April 1920, in Vol. 9, Calendar).
Had already finished the translation, and found further
misprints and errors. Proposes mathematical notation closer
to the comprehension level of a nonspecialist reader. Is
waiting for Einstein’s favorable decision as to the rights to a
French translation. [44 461].
May 4 3-page ALS from Maurice Solovine. Offers to translate Ein-
stein 1917a into French. He had already turned to Gauthier-
Villars publishing house. Asks for Einstein’s help in getting
the exclusive rights of French publication from Vieweg pub-
lishing house. Theodore Coppel contemplates preparing a
thesis on relativity; proposal for a topic is requested.
[21 117].
after May 4 Travels to the Netherlands.
May 5 Erwin Freundlich asks the minister of education whether the
150,000 M promised for further research on general relativ-
ity can be counted on, for it would be needed to begin con-
struction of the building accommodating the spectrograph
on the premises of the Potsdam observatory. In an earlier
initiative, Undersecretary of State Carl Becker, Ministry of
Education, succeeded in getting the consent of all the parties
in the Prussian parliament to promise the sum, but it was
insufficient for the acquisition of a spectrograph that would
be comparable to those in foreign countries; therefore, the
remainder of funds needed were being collected from pri-
vate contributions and from the chemical industry. Up to
date, more than 300,000 M had already been pledged. The
costs, including those of the building, were to amount to ca.
500,000 M. GyBSA, I. HA, Rep. 76 Vc, Sekt. 1, Tit. 11, Teil
5c, Nr. 55, Bl. 43. [83 294].
2-page TLS from Vieweg publishing house. Informed Rob-
ert W. Lawson of Einstein’s letter of 1 May. Agrees to pay
the 20%, but calls Einstein’s attention to the consequence
that the higher remuneration and the twenty times higher
paper costs will make the book more expensive. [42 040].