x c I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 5 favor only to the young, and that’s good” (Doc. 286). And he was pleased that neither one of his sons was planning a career in science, as it was “full of futile hard work” (Doc. 257). In November 1926, Einstein informed Ehrenfest that owing to his obligations at the League of Nations and “several industrial matters,” he did not have sufficient time or energy to maintain his position as a special professor at Leyden (Doc. 420). The following month, he again referred to his undesired fame: in replying to his old flame Anna Meyer-Schmid, he remembered his youth “when one didn’t yet have any gray hairs and one wasn’t the afflicted big shot from whom everyone wants something” (Doc. 435). And when declining for the third time Millikan’s invitation to Pasadena, he averred that he would be unable to embark on large-scale trips as he had “transformed from an animal into a plant” (Doc. 445).[60] He was aware, as he wrote to Anschütz-Kaempfe, that he was different from other scholars, who needed more relaxation “than the likes of us, who only work when they feel like it or when hit by a frenzy” (Doc. 37). Einstein was confronted with several deaths and illnesses among family mem- bers and friends. Elsa’s parents both died his stepdaughter Ilse suffered from stomach ulcers (Doc. 42) and her husband, Rudolf Kayser, was diagnosed with a heart condition (Doc. 426). His close Dutch colleagues Willem H. Julius and Heike Kamerlingh Onnes both died. His old friend from their student days, Marcel Grossmann, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (see Doc. 34, note 2). The personal and professional crisis of Einstein’s close friend Michele Besso, which first surfaced in June 1925 when his work output was at “zero,” is well- documented in the volume. Besso confided that he had started psychoanalysis and was hopeful about its outcome (Doc. 5). After visiting Besso in Bern a year later, Einstein concluded that his friend was “still very brilliant, but, unfortunately, not very fit for work” (Doc. 328). Five months later, Besso was in danger of losing his position at the Swiss Patent Office because of his low productivity. His son Vero asked Zangger to intervene (Docs. 401 and 405). In reply to Zangger’s inquiries, Einstein described his friend as “one of the strongest, brightest minds and most sin- cere characters that I have met in my entire life” and praised his “astounding” knowledge in physics and technology. Yet “[h]is weak side is willpower.” Asked by colleagues for assistance at the office, Besso would devote exhaustive time to aid them with their work, and, as an “overly conscientious person,” his own work suffered as a result. Einstein, who could not take the initiative himself to come to Besso’s assistance, as this might be perceived as being “immodest,” suggested being asked to do so (Doc. 432). He subsequently wrote a more official letter to Zangger, stating that Besso’s dismissal would be “a grave mistake” (Doc. 436) and an “Opinion on Michele Besso” that presented similar arguments (Doc. 451).