C H R O N O L O G Y , 1 9 1 3 1 9 5
May 29 M. Planck and others announce in the physical-mathemati-
cal class of the Prussian Academy of Sciences (PAW) that
they will be proposing Einstein for election at the next class
meeting.
June–July Visited by P. Ehrenfest and G. Nordström in Zurich.
Jun 3 L. Koppel commits to donate 6,000 M a year for twelve
years to raise Einstein’s salary at the PAW from 6,000 M to
12,000 M.
Jul 3 Physical-mathematical class of the PAW votes 21:1 in favor
of Einstein’s nomination.
mid-July M. Planck, W. Nernst, and their wives visit Einstein in
Zurich. The scientists offer him membership in the PAW
and most likely discuss with him the creation of a theoreti-
cal physics institute of the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gesellschaft
(KWG) under his direction, and a professorship at the Uni-
versity of Berlin without teaching obligations.
Jul 24 The plenum of the PAW votes on the Einstein nomination,
with 44 in favor and 2 dissenting.
Aug 4 Begins a walking tour with M. Curie through the Engadine
and the Val Bregaglia in eastern Switzerland.
Aug 7 Summer semester at the ETH ends.
Sep 9 Lectures to the Frauenfeld meeting of the Schweizerische
Naturforschende Gesellschaft on the “Physical Foundations
of a Theory of Gravitation” (Vol. 4, Doc. 16).
mid-Sep Visits wife’s family in Újvidék (Novi Sad).
Sep 23 Lecture “On the Present State of the Problem of Gravita-
tion” at the Vienna meeting of the GDNÄ (Vol. 4, Docs. 17
and 18).
Sep 24–Oct 9 Visits Berlin, Heilbronn, and Ulm before returning to
Zurich.
Oct 2 Winter semester at the ETH begins. Einstein teaches courses
in electricity and magnetism (Vol. 4, Doc. 19), and on ray
optics and diffraction, conducts a physics seminar, and
supervises exercises in physics (with P. Weiss).
before Oct 21 Writes “Theoretical Atomistics” and “Relativity Theory”
for Die Kultur der Gegenwart, published in 1915 (Vol. 4,
Docs. 20 and 21).