3 1 0 D O C U M E N T 2 2 0 D E C E M B E R 1 9 1 9
„belämmert“ wir uns gestern in der improvisierten Vorstands-Sitzung um das Pro-
blem unserer Taufe bemühten, dann würde das kleinste Zornfältchen in Ihrem und
Herrn Wiens Gesicht verschwunden
sein.[8]
Fragen Sie bitte Herrn Emden, was ich thun soll; bis ich von ihm Weisung erhal-
te, behalte ich vorläufig sein Manuskript.
Es grüsst Sie herzlich Ihr
Einstein.
ALS (GyMDM, Sommerfeld-Nachlass, 1977-28/A, 78[13]). Einstein/Sommerfeld 1968, pp. 60–61.
[21 394]. Fragmentary drafts by Sommerfeld to an unknown addressee, appended at the foot of the
page in pencil, are omitted.
[1]This letter is dated on the assumption that it was written the day after 17 December 1919 when
a preliminary discussion on the protests against the journal’s title took place (see note 8).
[2]A manuscript by Robert Emden was submitted to Einstein a week earlier (see Doc. 210). It con-
tained calculations on light refraction in the solar atmosphere.
[3]At this point in the original text, Einstein indicates a note he has appended at the foot of the page:
“Winzige Dichte genügt zwar, um die beobachtete Ablenkung an einer Stelle zu erzeugen, aber das
Abstandsgesetz (prop ) verlangt eine ganz unmögliche Dichteverteilung.” For Lorentz’s calcula-
tions, see Doc. 127.
[4]The proposal was made by on 3 December 1919 (see report on the session of executive and advi-
sory committees of the German Physical Society [DPG] enclosed in Wilhelm Westphal’s letter to
Arnold Sommerfeld, 20 December 1919, GyMDM, NL 89, 018, Mappe 3,7).
A telegram was also sent on 18 December to Sommerfeld, signed by Max Planck, Fritz Haber, Ein-
stein, Walther Nernst, and Heinrich Rubens, in which they communicated their doubts concerning the
proposed title, declared themselves receptive to any proposal, but referred to the financial risk the
publisher was reluctant to take with the old journal, and to the danger that a delay in decision making
might incite another publisher to found a new physics journal. They also invited Sommerfeld and Wil-
helm Wien to a meeting of the board of directors of the DPG with the Vieweg publishing house on
28 or 29 December 1919 (see entry of 18 December 1919 in Calendar).
[5]Max Planck and Wilhelm Wien were the editors, and the Barth publishing house was the pub-
lisher. The bone of contention with Wilhelm Wien was that Wien took the plan for a new journal as
an indication of “unfriendliness” (“Unfreundlichkeit”) toward the Annalen der Physik (see Doc. 210).
[6]An example is Einstein’s request for permission to include Einstein 1916f into Lorentz et al.
1920 (see entry of 17 December 1919 in Calendar).
[7]There was a long-standing tension between members of the DPG living in Berlin and those from
outside of Berlin (see, e.g., Einstein to Wilhelm Wien, 15 June 1914, and Wilhelm Wien to Einstein,
19 June 1914 [Vol. 8, Docs. 14 and 15, respectively]).
[8]The session took place on 17 December 1919 (see report cited in note 4).
220. From Robert W. Lawson
The Physics Laboratory, The University, Sheffield, England. 18/12/1919.
Sehr geehrter Herr Professor!
Mit Ihrem Briefe vom 12. l.
M.[1]
habe ich mich ungemein gefreut. Für diesen
Brief, der heute angekommen ist, danke ich Ihnen aufs herzlichste. Ich begreife
sehr gut wie schwer es sein wird einen Artikel von einer derartigen Kürze über die
1
r
-- -
Previous Page Next Page