268
DOC. 366
FEBRUARY
1912
366. To
Heinrich
Zangger
[Prague,
before 29
February
1912][1]
Dear
Mr.
Zangger,
It
was
irresponsible
of
me
not to write to
you
for
so long.
But I have
been
working
and
was
driven like
a
horse. The
main
thing was a relativity-theory
paper
on gravitation.
I sent it off
a
few
days
ago.[2]
Today
I sent off
a
polemic
against
Nernst.[3]
He
applied
the
second law in
a wrong way
in
order
to derive his
heat
theorem; his
publication
appeared
in
the
Sitz.
Ber.
d. Preuss.
Akademie,
my
response appeared
in
the
Phys.
Zeitschr.[4]
He
wrote
me a
rather
impertinent
reply
when
I
drew his
attention
to
his
errors.
And
now
to
the main
thing.
I
beg
of
you
to
come
and
stay
with
us
for Easter,
so
that
we can
spend
a
few
pleasant
days
together
and
you
can
catch
your
breath
a
bit in
ease
and
comfort.[5]
Please
write to
me
quite
soon
to
let
me
know the
date of
your arrival,
so
that
I
can
adjust
my
other
plans accordingly.
In
an investigation
of
the
photochemical
decomposition
of
ammonia,
which I had asked him
to
carry
out
when
I
was
in
Brussels,
Warburg
confirmed
experimentally
the
photochemical quantum
law.[6]
In
the
course
of
my
investigation
on gravitation
I discovered
that Abraham's
theory
(Phys.
Zeitschr.,
No.
1)
is absolutely
untenable.[7]
Lorentz asked
me
to
come
to
Leiden
as
his
successor.[8]
It
is
fortunate that
I
had
already
committed
myself
in Zurich,
for
otherwise
I would have
had
no
choice
but
to
go
there.[9]
Now
Debije
will
probably
be called
there
too.[10]
It
is
very
important
for
me
to
know
whether
Debije
will
remain
there.[11]
Because
an
excellent
theoretician
(Ehrenfest),
who
fanatically
opposes
any religious
affiliation
(odd),
and
therefore
would
not
be called
away
from
Switzerland,
would
like
to
do his Habilitation in
Zurich.[12]
One
must be
very
accommodating
toward
this
man
because
he would be
an
excellent
acquisition.
For
the
present,
he would
just
like to
habilitate;
nevertheless, when he
introduced himself
to
Kleiner,
the
latter,
in his
-,
frightened
him
off,
more or
less.[13]
But this could
easily
be
made
good again.
One
could
then,
if
need
be, appoint
a
handy
physicist
in
Zurich
to
replace
Debije,
and
the
university
would
then
be well
equipped.[14]
More about
this in
person.
With
best
regards
to
you, your
wife,
and
your
little
ones,[15]
also from
my family,
I
remain
your
old
friend
Einstein
I
cannot
wait
to
have
you
here!
You
must
come