480 DOC.
466 FEBRUARY
1918
466. From Max
von
Laue
Feldberg
(Black Forest),
18
February 1918
Dear
Einstein,
I
have received here
your
forwarded
postcard
of
the
beginning
of
this month
and
your
letter of the
13th
of
this
mo.
Many
thanks
for
the
extremely
welcome
news.[1]
As
soon as
I
am
home
again,
and
this
I
am
going
to be
on
the
24th of this
mo.,
I
shall write
to
Planck.
I
would
like
to wait
until then
in order
to discuss
these
things
with
my wife[2]
and because
there
I
have
access
to
the
typewriter
again,
which is of
advantage
to
everyone
involved. Should
the letter
to
Planck
be
urgent, please telegraph
me
here
as soon as
possible;
the
address:
“Feldberg
(Black Forest)”
suffices.
It
seems
to
me
of
more
urgency
to write
you
about the
Planck celebration.[3]
The task
of
portraying
Planck’s meritorious
contributions
to
thermodynamics
is
very honorable,
but
quite
difficult for
me.
For
it,
one
must have
actually
experienced
the
development
of
thermodynamics,
shall
we say,
from 1875-1895.
Since this
is
not
the
case
for
me,
I
would
certainly
have
to conduct
thorough
studies, especially
since
I
heard earlier
that
personal disagreements
arose
at
that
time
over
thermodynamical
problems
which,
from what
one
hears,
have
not
been
overcome
in all
quarters
to
the
present
day.[4]
Now,
please
do not take
this
as
though I
wanted to
doubt
Planck’s merits in
the
field of thermodynamics
in
any
way;
it
just
seems
to
me
necessary
to
weigh
this
very carefully. By no means
do
I want to
decline
the talk
either.
However,
I
attach
a
condition
to
it. If
I
do not
make
any proper headway
with
it,
then
you
Berliners
must
allow
me
to
come
to
Berlin
and
ask
you
there
for
advice;
I
also
count
on Warburg’s[5]
help
a
bit
in
this;
for he
obviously
knows
the
mentioned time
span
from
personal experience.
Finally,
I would
like
to
inform
you confidentially
that the Natural
Sciences
Faculty
at
Frankfurt
has decided
to
award Planck
an
honorary
doctorate
of
science
[Dr.
phil. nat.]
for his 60th
birthday
and wants
additionally
to have
an
address
formally presented
to him.[6]
Now,
if
I
am
to
give
a
speech
in Berlin
on
the
26th,
I would
like to
come
over
on
the
23rd
already
and would deliver
the
diploma
and the
address
myself.
Can
you
write
me
whether occasion for
this
presents
itself?
If,
for
example, you
and
Rubens[7] went to
visit Planck in his
apartment
on
the
23rd,
could
I
join
you?[8]
But
please
do not let Planck know
about this
in
advance. You
can
discuss
this
with
Rubens;
he
is
anyway already
informed.
With
cordial
greetings, yours,
M.
von
Laue.
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