D O C U M E N T S 2 5 4 , 2 5 5 M A Y 1 9 2 4 2 4 9
254. To Betty Neumann
[Kiel,] 24 May 1924
[Dear] Betty,
Y[our] …letter made [me] [very] [happy,] also the card w[ith] t[he] climbed
mountain[.] On[ly] the announcement of the [extension] of y[our] [Graz?] sojourn
doesn’t suit my plans very well. I am going to Berlin again on Tuesday, because on
Wednesday I have to give a lecture at a colloquium there. Then on 5 June I’m going
away again [for] a week, because I was invited to go on an automobile trip by a very
congenial elderly German American whom I really can’t refuse. But then, I hope,
you won’t leave us alone for much longer. How will Uncle Hans and I manage
without you? The perching bird acts like a nestling! It’s springtime over here now,
too, but the May wind is usually raw and it continues to rain.
Give my best regards to your mother and the men, and kisses to you from your
Albert.
Send the next little letter designated for me to Uncle Hans, but better yet, come
again very soon, so that you don’t have to write so much!
255. From Paul Ehrenfest
Leyden, 25 May 1924
Dear Einstein,
Returned home a couple of days ago.[1] Sea voyage back with Millikan[2] and,
moreover, from Cherbourg until Bremen, also with Joffe[3] on board in order to
bring them both into contact with each other (with excellent success).
Have at the moment just two things to settle with you (answer rapidly, please!).
1°. In conversation with Dr. Rose (president of International Board of Educa-
tion—Rockefeller Son Foundation) in New York,[4] I told him: the sum of money
that you have applied for through my intercession for mathemat[ical] assistant[5]
seemed to me suitable for living costs last year, but not for now or for the future.—
He asked me to check this more closely and to write him directly about it, as they
certainly do wish to arrange everything well.—So please do write me, very openly
about what wishes you have—I’ve forgotten how much you requested for this
mathematician.
2° Millikan would very much like to invite you to Pasadena, same as Lorentz[6]
and me, and asked me to probe whether he could get you.— Well, I’d like to tell
you the following about this: the 3 months in Pasadena were completely splendid