2 4 8 D O C U M E N T 2 5 3 M A Y 1 9 2 4
look at your kingdom once, i.e., your place, and compare it to the first one I inhab-
ited with my
ex-wife.[4]
We were the sole residents there, you know, and had a little
vegetable garden; but you are more richly decked out with furniture.
Until then, I wish both of you an enjoyable time, your
“father Albert.”
P. S. This little letter is being delivered to you via Mother but not at her instigation.
253. To Michele Besso
Kiel, 24 May 1924
Dear Michele!
I do know that you wrote me
twice.[1]
But whether I answered you, I don’t know;
maybe I haven’t written you since your operation. Since the wonderful trip to Ja-
pan, during which I saw for the first time a healthy human society, whose members
are entirely immersed in it, I’ve been leading a quiet life without outside events.
The only interruptions are my sojourns in Kiel, where I am able to refresh my tech-
nical memory a
little.[2]
Scientifically, I’m dwelling almost without interruption on
the quantum problem and do really believe I’m on the right track—provided it’s
certain. The best thing that I have managed to do lately was the paper of 1917 in
the Physikal.
Zeitschrift.[3]
My new efforts are in the direction of unifying quanta
and the Maxwellian
field.[4]
Among the experimental results of importance from
the last few years there are actually only the experiments by Stern and Gerlach as
well as the Compton exp. (scattering of Roentgen rays with a change in frequency),
the former proving the unique existence of the quantum states; the latter, the reality
of the momentum of light
quanta.[5]
I sent my treatises to the national library just before the era of wilderness set in
with my papers because of the marriage of my stepdaughter,
Ilse.[6]
I am doing well
healthwise and in every other respect. The boys, who have turned out very upstand-
ing, are giving me particular pleasure, so that the Nobel Prize, which my ex-wife
got, will probably not lead to their
undoing.[7]
Political conditions have become
calmer, and the hordes aren’t bothering much about me anymore, thank God, so my
life has become quieter and less disrupted. France demonstrated by its elections
that it has gotten over its
victory.[8]
Those people can be complimented for being
the lesser evil; so it seems to me, at least. Cordial regards to you and Anna, Vero,
and
family,[9]
from your
Albert.
Greetings to Schauenberg, Sauter, Blau, and
Schenk.[10]