D O C U M E N T 4 1 8 J A N U A R Y 1 9 2 5 4 1 1
all, because it really does say a lot to the greater public that on this day (at the fes-
tive assembly by the senate in the large St. Peter Church) not only will the queen
be conferred her honorary doctorate of
law[5]
(her ancestor William of Orange
founded the
university),[6]
but also an abundance of famous and fine fellows who
are connected with the university in one way or another, will be exhibited by the
university. When you consider how little arrogance our university people display,
you will, I hope, march behind
Lorentz[7]
in a gown completely without toothache
for a couple hundred steps across the street (from university to church).—Please
take your tailcoat along.
I thank you, your wife, and
Margot[8]
very much that we were allowed to send
Tanya over to you so casually for safe-keeping and feeding. That certainly is a fine
thing for us and also for Tanya. You can imagine how very interested we are in the
question of whether this brush with the lively, courageous Russian youth and the
gravity of Russian life will cleanse her soul. One really does feel that she has
enough energy and talent to give quite a lot to her fellow humans—so it would be
absurd if she dozed off in some dusty dark corner like a spoiled cat.
If Bothe-Geiger find “statistical independence” between electron and scattered
light quantum, it proves
nothing.[9]
If, however, they find dependence, it is a tri-
umph for Einstein over
Bohr.[10]
—This time, I firmly believe you
(exceptionally![11]
), so I would be glad if dependence were to have been made ev-
ident.
Very cordial regards from all of us, yours,
Ehrenfest.
418. To Paul Ehrenfest
[Berlin,] Sunday [11 January 1925]
Dear Ehrenfest,
I forgot in my
letter[1]
to concur with you about the statistical observation on the
energy fluctuations of the subspace according to the ¢method² interpretation of
standing oscillations. It would surely be good to publish this sometime. Ask De
Sitter[2]
some time whether the Julius daughters are making use of the ladies’ tick-
ets, which I offered to them on the strength of my right to do
so.[3]
They have not
communicated anything to me, so I have to keep an eye on the possibility that they
did not receive my letter. Do you have any direct news from
Tanya?[4]
Cordial regards to all, yours,
Einstein.
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