718 DOCUMENT 505 APRIL 1918
P.
S.
Auf
Ihren Wunsch hin teile ich Ihnen noch
mit,
dass meine
Auslagen
etwa
4 M.
betragen
ALS.
[21
566].
There
are perforations
for
a
loose-leaf
binder
at
the
left
margin
of
the document.
[1]Present-day Tîrgsoru
Vechi,
near
Ploesti,
in the
most
important oil-bearing region
of
Romania.
[2]Erwin
Freundlich had made
a
proposal to
the Prussian
Academy
a
month
earlier
to
retrieve the
astronomical instruments confiscated
by
Russian authorities in 1914
(see
Doc.
486, note
1).
At
a ses-
sion
of
the
physical-mathematical
class three
days
earlier,
Einstein and several others
supported
the
proposal,
Walther Nernst
suggesting
that
an
expert
be
sent
in
uniform,
if
possible,
to
Odessa,
where
the instruments had been stored since 1915
(see
the
extract
of
the minutes
of
that
meeting, 11 April
1918,
GyBAW
II-VII, Vol. 158,
p.
49).
A different tack
was pursued,
however. Hermann Struve
suggested
that the instruments be
re-
trieved under the
auspices
of
the observatories that had
participated
in the 1914
expedition,
without
involving
the
Academy
(see
Struve’s
proposal,
16
April
1918,
appended
to
the extract
of
the
minutes,
11 April
1918, cited
above).
The
plan was accepted by
the
physical-mathematical
class in late
April
(see
the
extract
of the minutes
of
that
meeting,
25
April
1918,
GyBAW
II-VII,
Vol.
158,
p. 50),
but
the instruments
were only
returned
to
Germany
in
spring
1923
(see
Vossische
Zeitung (6 July 1923),
1st
Supplement, pp. 1-2).
[3]Constanta, a
Romanian
port on
the Black
Sea.
[4]Schweydar
had been sent
by
the Geodetic Institute in Potsdam
to
Romania at the
beginning
of
February
to
conduct
gravitational
acceleration
measurements
with
an
Eötvös torsion balance
(see
Jahresbericht
Potsdam
1918,
p.
14
and
pp.
42-43, and
Jahresbericht
Potsdam
1919,
pp.
13
and
35).
[5]Emil
Wiechert had been the unanimous first choice
of
the
Prussian
Academy
for the
directorship
of
the Geodetic Institute
(see
Doc.
427, note 2).
[6]Friedrich Helmert had been Director until his death in
summer
1917
(see
Doc.
426).
[7]Roland
von
Eötvös had
put Schweydar’s name
forward
as a
candidate
for the
directorship,
stressing
his
versatility
(see
Doc.
443).
[8]At
the 17th General Conference
on
International
Geodesy
(see
Erdmessung Verhandlungen
1913,
p. 111).
[9]Adolf
Schmidt.
[10]Wiechert
declined the
appointment (see
Friedrich
Schmidt(-Ott) to
the Prussian
Academy
of
Sciences,
29
May
1918,
GyBAW,
II-XIV, Vol. 14,
p.
53).
505.
To
Mileva Einstein-Maric
[Berlin,
before
15
April 1918][1]
Liebe Mileva!
Ich habe den
Vertragsentwurf
bekommen und lasse Herrn
Dr.
Zürcher herzlich
für seine Hilfe
danken.[2]
Ich habe
nun
meinerseits
Aenderungsvorschläge
hinein-
korrigiert,
die ich
sogleich
erläutern werde. Ich
habe
diese
auch in mein
Exemplar
eingetragen.
Du kannst
mir
dann dies
Exemplar
wieder zurücksenden mit Deinen
Aenderungsvorschlägen,
falls Du welche
anbringen
willst. Wenn wir dann
einig
sind,
lasse ich zwei Abschriften
machen,
von
denen Du die eine
unterschrieben
er-
hältst.
Meine
Aenderungen
betreffen
folgende
Punkte.