6 8 D O C U M E N T 3 8 J A N U A R Y 1 9 2 1
Moszkowski’s book (see Hedwig Born to Einstein, 7 October 1920; Max Born to Einstein, 28 October
1920 [Vol. 10, Docs. 166 and 185]).
[4]Sergei A. Boguslavsky (1883–1923) was Professor of Physics at the University of Saratov. A
member of an aristocratic family and in ill health, he hoped to be invited to lecture in Germany to
relieve him of the hardships he was facing in postrevolutionary Russia (Einstein and Born 2005,
p. 43). Born had sought Einstein’s aid in his letter of 8 December 1920 (Vol. 10, Doc. 224).
[5]Boguslavsky held that one could construct a perpetuum mobile of the second kind by closing off
a cavity containing black-body radiation with a piston that reflected radiation of a particular
frequency interval but that would be permeable for all other frequencies (see his letter in Einstein and
Born 2005, pp. 45–47).
[6]On this subject, see also Doc. 30. For Born’s later comments, including his suspicion that the
experiments may not have been carried out, see Einstein and Born 2005, p. 49.
[7]Peter Pringsheim.
[8]Byk 1921a.
[9]Born 1920.
[10]For Born’s sentiment on the political situation, see his letter to Einstein of 8 December 1920
(Vol. 10, Doc. 224).
[11]The punitive measures proposed by the Allied Paris conference included the occupation of the
Ruhr, the expansion of the occupation of the Rhine, and the exclusion of Germany from the League
of Nations (“Das Entschädigungs-Abkommen der Alliierten,” Berliner Tageblatt, 30 January 1921,
Morning Edition). In their January 1921 Paris note, the Allied required that Germany pay 226 billion
gold marks in 42 annual installments (Mommsen 1996, p. 112), an amount that was reduced by half
several months later (Feldman 1997, pp. 328–329).
38. To Evelyn N. Wagner[1]
Berlin, den 31. I. 21
Sehr geehrte gnädige Frau!
Ich kann mich nicht entschliessen, Ihrer freundlichen Aufforderung nachzukom-
men,[2]
nicht etwa aus Mangel an Zeit, sondern aus folgenden Gründen. Erstens
wird gegenwärtig Meinungen und Urteilen, die ich ausspreche, ein zu grosses Ge-
wicht beigelegt, so dass ich mich scheue, auf Gebieten, in denen ich nicht beson-
ders kompetent bin, mich öffentlich auszusprechen, zweitens besteht hier in
Deutschland mir gegenüber wegen meiner pazifistischen und sonstigen politischen
Einstellung eine unleugbare
Gereiztheit,[3]
die durch die schwierige politische
Lage des Landes nur noch erhöht wird. Unter diesen Umständen würden Missdeu-
tungen meiner Aeusserungen so gut wie sicher eintreten, so dass dieselben eher
Schaden als Nutzen stiften würden.
Mit ausgezeichneter Hochachtung
TLC. [45 193].
[1]Wagner was the Berlin correspondent for the London Observer.
[2]Two days earlier, Wagner requested an interview for the Observer (see 29 January 1921 in
Calendar).
[3]For recent threats against Einstein, see Doc. 32.