DOCUMENT 59 OCTOBER 1907 75 [2]Einstein probably used the Stadtbibliothek, the library of the University of Bern. It was open during the week from 10 until 12 in the morning and from 2 until 7 in the evening, and from 2 until 5 Saturdays (see Adressbuch Bern 1906, p. 134). [3]Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853-1928) Lorentz 1904a. [4]Emil Cohn (1854-1944) wrote several papers on the electrodynamics of moving bodies: Cohn 1900, 1902, 1904a, and 1904b. A copy of Cohn 1904a is in Einstein's reprint collection, IsReW. [5]Kurd von Mosengeil Mosengeil 1907. [6]Probably Planck 1906a and 1907a. Planck's two other papers related to relativity from those years (Planck 1906b and 1907b) were not yet known to Einstein (see Docs. 63 and 64). 59. From the B. G. Teubner Publishing House Leipzig, den 3. Oktober 1907. Herrn Dr. Einstein, Bern. Physikal. Institut d. Univers. Sehr geehrter Herr! In Dresden, bei Gelegenheit der Naturforscher-Versammlung, Mitte Sep- tember d. J.,[1] hörte ich durch einen dort anwesenden, mir befreundeten Phy- siker von Ihren interessanten Versuchen.[2] Ich möchte mir mit diesen Zeilen die Anfrage erlauben, ob Sie mit diesen Versuchen schon so weit sind, diesel- ben einem grösseren Leserkreis bekannt zu geben. Jedenfalls stehen Ihnen meine Pressen immer gern zur Verfügung, falls Sie sich mit literarischen Plä- nen tragen sollten. Auch zweifle ich nicht, dass wir uns über die äusseren Be- dingungen leicht einigen werden. Mit vorzüglicher Hochachtung ganz ergebenst B G Teubner[3] TLS. [41 1081]. [1]The 79th annual meeting of the Gesellschaft Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte was held from 15 until 21 September 1907. [2]The physicist may have been Wilhelm Wien. Wien had participated in the discussion fol- lowing a paper given by Arnold Sommerfeld on superluminal velocities (Sommerfeld 1907), a topic that Sommerfeld had taken upat Wien's suggestion and that had been discussed in a cor- respondence between Wien and Einstein in the summer of the same year (see Docs. 49-53 and 55, and the editorial note, "Einstein on Superluminal Signal Velocities," pp. 56-60). A conver- sation with Wien may have left the publisher with the impression that Einstein was performing experiments, for instance on superluminal signal velocities. [3]Signed in the name of the deceased founder of the firm by his son-in-law, Alfred Acker- mann-Teubner (1857-1941), Director of the mathematics and natural sciences department of the publishing house.
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