xxxviii
INTRODUCTION
TO VOLUME
8
the
editors.[2]
For
readers who wish to have
access
to the entire
range
of
letters
exchanged, we
have included those not
presented as
texts
as
calendared items in
the
backmatter of
the volume
(Calendar)
where their contents
are briefly summa-
rized.
Of
the
correspondence published as
texts,
about 30
percent
were
uncovered
in the
course
of
work
on
the edition
or
exist
only
in
incomplete
form in the Albert
Einstein Archives
of
the
Jewish
National
and
University
Library.
II
The
continuity
of
commitment
that
Einstein lavished
on
his research takes
very
concrete
form in his
efforts,
which
run
like
a
thread
through
this
volume, to
secure
experimental
verification
of
his
emerging general theory
of
relativity.
As
early as
1911,
the astronomer Erwin
Freundlich
had
come
to Einstein’s
attention,
while the
latter
was
still Professor
of
Physics
in
Prague
(Vol.
5,
Doc.
281).
At the end
of
1913,
Einstein’s interest in
Freundlich
has advanced well
beyond
casual
concern
for the latter’s
career
or
independent
research interests: Freundlich will be his
apprentice.
Still in
Zurich,
he writes
to
Freundlich
that
should the Prussian Acad-
emy,
to which Einstein has
recently
been
elected,
refuse
to
make funds
available,
he
will
pay
the research
costs
out
of his
own
pocket (Vol.
5,
Doc.
492).
About the
same time,
before
his Berlin
debut,
Einstein
entertains
high hopes
that
a
profferred
directorship
of
a new
Kaiser Wilhelm Institute
of
Physics-one
of
the
negotiating
cards that had attracted him
to
Berlin in the first place-may materialize. Whatever
the intent
of
the committee
that
is entrusted with its
realization,[3]
Einstein has
already
recast
more
elaborate
plans
for
the institute into
a single-purpose
safe
haven
for
Freundlich,
where the
latter
may pursue
with undivided attention and
without financial worries the
experimental
confirmation
of
general relativity,
which
is
so
dear
to
Einstein’s heart. This is
borne
out
by
the
painstaking
stubbornness with
which Einstein
pursues
this
goal
during
the Berlin
years.
Frustrated
by
the
post-
ponement
of
his
Institute’s creation until October
1917,[4]
Einstein
improvises
nim-
bly
to find
another
research
home for
Freundlich. In
an
appeal
directed
to
Freundlich’s
superior
at
the
Neubabelsberg Observatory
outside
Potsdam,
Einstein
requests
that
the
astronomer
be relieved
of
routine
meridian
observations,
some-
thing
that
Director Hermann Struve
flatly
refuses. For the
next
two
years,
Einstein’s
correspondence
is dotted with his
attempts
to enlist the
support
of
high
Prussian
government
officials[5]
and of
his
colleagues
Max
Planck
and David
Hilbert
to
solve the
problem.
Einstein
in
turn
pleads
for
research
employment
for his
protégé
in another
observatory,
tries to
help
him
meet
requirements
for
a teaching post,
and
finally attempts
to
maneuver
him
directly
into
an
academic
position,
all the while
sidestepping
the
intrigues
of
Struve’s
colleague, Hugo
von
Seeliger.
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