D O C U M E N T 4 1 6 J A N U A R Y 1 9 2 5 4 0 9
shabby. But because I have to go to Argentina in March, and am giving a lecture
here in Berlin this semester, I must return from Leyden right away. I’m then going
to convince you completely of the gas-degeneration equation. I found another se-
cure but admittedly not quite complete approach to it, free from the incriminating
statistics.[7]
But how to set up the mechanics to lead to such a thing? Presently I’m
slogging along, roughly according to Tetrode-the-Invisible’s recipe (Zeitschr. f.
Physik
1922).[8]
There’s something of a genius in that
man.[9]
I did not give Tanya
any more money because she had more than enough. It is not at all pleasant if one
carries too much. What a pity that she dashed away again. Yesterday there was a
presentation about Kapitza in the colloquium (with much sympathy and respect,
Geiger was the
reviewer).[10]
A paper by Hoffmann (Königsberg) on penetrating
radiation aroused great interest as
well.[11]
The paper by Geiger and Bothe on the
statistics of the Compton effect should be finished
soon.[12]
They are being very
cautious and aren’t saying anything yet. Just wild rumors in the air.
Warm regards also to your entire little company, yours,
Einstein.
I am glad that my sister received the Au
ions.[13]
The dose is worryingly large but
surely an experiment rarely has an efficiency larger than for this one.
416. To Hendrik A. Lorentz
[Berlin,] 9 January 1925
Dear and esteemed Mr. Lorentz,
Bringing good things to people is a difficult business; thus we must console our-
selves for now about what I have to tell you here. Three months ago—as you
know—I asked Mr. Planck to found, or to mother, a national committee for intel-
lectual
cooperation.[1]
I immediately saw that my proposal made him unhappy, and
the poor man has struggled within himself for a quarter of a year now. Whenever I
asked him, he always replied that he did not know yet what he ought to do. Yester-
day, however, he returned to the matter of his own initiative and declared that he
could not undertake the function envisioned for him.
The justification he gave was roughly the following: “As long as Germans are
not admitted to international associations and conferences, it is the correct conduct
for a German himself to stay away from all international events—this not with-
standing any friendly relations binding him to individual personalities abroad.” I
Effect
Dose
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