D O C U M E N T 1 8 2 D E C E M B E R 1 9 2 3 1 8 3
182. To Hendrik A. Lorentz
[Berlin,] 25 December 1923
Esteemed Mr. Lorentz,
At Hertz’s, on my trip homeward, I received your kind
letter,[1]
which delighted
me exceedingly. With your wise, fatherly manner and your fine sensitivity, you will
contribute much toward getting scientists to work together again as harmlessly and
happily as ever. I already wrote to Mrs.
Curie[2]
that my attitude toward her is still
just as warmhearted as before. It really was better that I was not invited to Paris now
because, whether or not I had gone, there would always have been occasion for
awkward misinterpretations. You and our Parisian friends correctly felt
this.[3]
I am
pleased to hear that you returned from France with such favorable impressions.
Perhaps the time will soon come when scientific relations are lifted out of the
murky atmosphere of political passions again.
Langevin already was quite exhausted when he was here during the summer. He
has assumed too many responsibilities in order to provide for his family; and any-
way, political matters do affect this extraordinarily fair man particularly bitterly. He
considers it his duty to act in person. That is why he came here in the summer, an
undertaking that called for much courage and
self-sacrifice.[4]
Added to that, life in
Paris wears away at the nerves particularly strongly through its hectic pace. I would
be very glad if he could withdraw a bit into provincial stillness. He usually lives
under conditions that exclude any contemplative concentration.
I see a possibility to cope with the facts of quanta through field theory, at the ex-
pense of the equations of
mechanics.[5]
The mechanical behavior of electrons (sin-
gularities) should also be determined through an overdetermination of the field
equations. Unfortunately, the mathematical difficulties are too formidable for my
abilities. That is why I have tried to attract the interest of fellow professionals to
this method in a brief
paper.[6]
The ceremony in Amsterdam went well and left me with a feeling of warm
gratitude.[7]
It seems to be quiet here again. The purely functional problems
grounded in the rapid devaluation of money seem to have been overcome, tempo-
rarily, at least, so somewhat normal trade exists
again.[8]
Because it is vacation, I
have not seen any of our colleagues yet.
In wishing you and your wife a happy 1924, I am, with cordial regards, yours,
A. Einstein.
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