DOCS.
FOR
VOL.
5
FEBRUARY
1909
5
consequences
of these
equats.
and of the
princ.
of relat. It would
thus
be
natural
to
name
all these
system. equats.
of Lorentz
as a
whole. You call it
Mink.
’s
system.
You
probably
give
this
term
a
wider
meaning.
It
is not
for
me
to
pronounce
myself
in
favor
of
this
or
that
electrodyn.
th.
I
limit
myself
to
examining
the
consequences following
from
the
application
of
the
princ.
of relat. to
the
fund.
equats.
of
Lorentz’s
electr[odynamics].
In
my opinion, my
little
paper
should
serve as
a complement
to
the
fine
researches
by
Lorentz and
Mink.[7] I
am
sorry
not to have been able to
express my
idea in
a
clearer
man[ner].[8]
I
wonder
whether,
at
the bottom
of
all
this
misunderstanding,
it
were
not
a
matter of
definition, simply
a
question
of
vocabulary.
Very respectfully yours,
D.
Mir
...
P.S.
Lacking
a
suffic.
command
of
German,
I
regret
not
having
been able
to
write
you
in
that
language.
Vol.
5,
136b. To
Dmitry
Mirimanoff
Berne,
9 February 1909
Esteemed
Sir,
Thank
you very
much for
your letter;[1]
I
see
with
pleasure
that
actually
our
opinions
are
not at variance.
Nonetheless,
it does not
seem
to
me
redundant
when
I point out
in
my
notice
that
your
adaptation of
the
Lorentz
equations
to
the
principle
of
relativity
differs
only formally
but
not in content from Minkowski’s
system
of
equations.
For
not just I
but
other readers
as
well
could
gain
the
impression upon
reading
your
paper
that
now a
Lorentzian theory
deviating
from
that
of Minkowski existed
which, applied
to
Wilson’s
setup,
led
to
consequences
that
are
observable in
principle,
which differ from those
consequences
that
follow
from Minkowski’s
theory.[2]
The best evidence
I
see
for
my
submission not
having
been
redundant
is
that,
at
first,
the
editors
of
the Annalen did
not want
to
accept
my notice,
which
initially
had
been worded
more concisely.
Prof.
Wien wrote
me
that
he
was
unable to
see
the correctness of
my
assertions.[3]
Finally,
I
must still
express my delight
at
having
made
your acquaintance
through
this little
war
of
words,
and
I
urge you
to visit
me
if
you
ever come
to
Berne.[4]
With kind
regards, yours
truly,
A.
Einstein.
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