D O C U M E N T 2 5 3 D E C E M B E R 1 9 2 0 3 4 7
of November. Anschütz is back in Munich
then.[2]
I propose definite dates only so
that you do not shift the business to the familiar calendas
gräcas[3]
and I otherwise
agree in advance to any counterproposal of yours.
I hear from Anschütz that you received 2,000 marks in
Kiel;[4]
we can give you
that too. Now I will probably have to give the lecture at the Engineers Association
myself, for better or for
worse[5]
(I will probably do it rather worse than better).
When I see how irascibly I respond to unqualified questions regarding relativity
links, then I can imagine the rage that you yourself eventually must feel at that.
That you are not angry at me about the citations from your letters, which I gather
from your silence about that, is a relief for me. They simply fit too well in my flow
of
words.[6]
Will the new year bring the electron problem to maturity? That is probably the
next and perhaps the largest fruit of rel.
th.[7]
Herzfeld’s idea is the following, very superficially described and without guar-
antee that I am relaying it to you
exactly:[8]
Upon magnetic reversal of a ferromag-
netic atom, radiation is emitted into the ether; however, this emission carries with
it (according to the general rules relating energy and momentum) just half of the
change in momentum that corresponds to a change in the electrons’ orbital sense;
only the other half goes onto the magnet. Herzfeld wants to verify the presence of
this radiation experimentally (frequency as for wirel[ess] telegr.). This can take a
good while yet; so I ask you please not to breathe a word about it for the time being.
It will be a big thing, if everything works.
I am in suspense about Bohr’s new atom
ideas.[9]
In my opinion, he is a man of
rare intellectual and personal charm.
With best regards, yours,
A. Sommerfeld.
Poor Rümelin has died of gastric ulcers, intrinsically harmless ones, but with a rup-
ture into the abdominal membrane. How good that you took proper care of yourself
in time, which Rümelin did not
do.[10]
253. From Jewish Community of Berlin
Berlin N. 24, 2 Oranienburger St., 30 December 1920
To Professor Albert Einstein, Schöneberg, Berlin, 5 Haberland St.
To your obliging correspondence of the 22nd of this
mo.[1]
we reply that, accord-
ing to local law, membership in a cultural community does not presuppose a dec-
laration of membership. Rather, every Jew is obligated, by force of law, to be a
taxpaying member of that Jewish community in whose district he resides. Pursuant
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