D O C U M E N T 9 4 J U L Y 1 9 2 0 2 2 3
to draw Your Excellency’s attention to this truly indefensible state of
affairs.[2]
I
find it very important that astronomical science, which is currently experiencing a
dramatic rise, be granted more attention in Germany as well, especially since it can-
not be denied that in this field we have been not insignificantly overshadowed by
England and America throughout the last decades. Thus it is of great importance to
support such a qualified astronomer as Buchholz and retain him in the field. I am
very willing, at Your Excellency’s wish, to write a factual report about Buchholz’s
scientific
accomplishments.[3]
I would deem it of exceptional urgency, in the inter-
est of cultivating astronomy in Germany, that the provisional situation in Halle be
put to an end and that the astronomer Buchholz, who has selflessly toiled for so
many years already under difficult circumstances in loyal service to his science and
the State, be given a permanent
position.[4]
In expressing my utmost respect, I am Your Excellency’s humble servant,
A. Einstein.
94. To Edouard Guillaume
31 July 1920
Dear Guillaume,
What appears on the first page of your letter can be expressed—if I have under-
stood you correctly—in this
way.[1]
Let ts or tm be a specified time interval mea-
sured by a clock with a second hand or by a clock with a minute hand. Furthermore,
let or be the periods of the second or of the minute measured by a different
specified standard clock, whose readings I want to denote as . Then, for the ob-
served time interval,
applies.
If you had defined this way earlier, I would have understood it immediately. It is
strange and suspicious that you introduce many clocks at once into the consideration
that are all supposed to serve for the measurement of time. But no one can forbid
you from doing so.
I cannot understand the rest of the letter, because I absolutely do not know what
you intend by it.[2] All my efforts were futile. I pondered for about two hours. Then
I took up your letter of July 14 again, but I could do no better. Nevertheless, I would
like to give you the argument in detail again about the influence of the gravitational
field on the clocks.
ds is the time measured by a standard clock at rest relative to the coordinate sys-
tem. Standard clocks are those that run at the same speed when positioned at the
sec m
s
ts
m
tm = =