V O L . 1 2 , D O C U M E N T 2 0 2 a A U G U S T 1 9 2 1 1 1 Daraus folgt aber keineswegs, dass zwei an demselben Orte befindliche, relativ zu einander bewegte Sterne von einem entfernten Beobachter in verschiedener Richtung erblickt werden müssen. Vielmehr folgt nach jeder Theorie, gemäss wel- cher sich Lichtstrahlen gradlinig fortpflanzen (relativ zu dem zum Beobachter irgend einem System), dass zwei Sterne, welche an (praktisch) demselben Orte Licht emittieren, vermöge dieses Lichtes von irgend einem Orte aus stets in der gleichen Richtung gesehen werden müssen, auch denn, wenn sie relativ zu einan- der bewegt sind. Dies muss natürlich auch gemäss der speziellen Relativitäts- theorie gelten. Es handelt sich in diesem Falle eben nicht um Objekte, die von relativ zu einander bewegten Bezugskörpern aus anvisiert werden, wie etwa im Falle der Aberration der Fixsterne. Wenn Sie dies scharf überlegen, werden Sie mir gewiss zustimmen.— Es war mir eine grosse Freude, Sie persönlich kennen zu lernen, und ich hoffe, dass wir noch mehr so schöne Stunden zusammen verleben werden wie die in Princeton. Seien Sie herzlich gegrüsst von Ihrem A. Einstein. ALS. [123 592]. [1] Silberstein (1872–1948) was a Polish-born American-Jewish mathematical physicist at the research laboratory of the Eastman Kodak Co. in Rochester, N.Y. [2] An interview with Einstein in which he was quoted as making a number of disparaging remarks about life in the United States had been published in the Dutch newspaper Nieuwe Rotterdamsche Courant on 4 July (see “An Interview with Professor Albert Einstein,” [Vol. 7, Appendix D]). Partial translations of the German version of the interview, which had appeared in the Berliner Tageblatt, were published by several American newspapers. Silberstein had sent Einstein clippings from the New York Times, 8 July 1921 (“Einstein Declares Women Rule Here,”) and the Chicago Daily Tribune (“ ‘American Men Women’s Toy Dogs,’ Einstein”), 8 July 1921, with the request for reassurances that the interview was a figment of the correspondent’s imagination (see Ludwik Silberstein to Einstein, 13 July 1921 [Vol. 12, Doc. 178]). In his next letter, Silberstein stated his conviction that the views expressed in the interview could not be attributed to Einstein (see Ludwik Silberstein to Einstein, 18 July 1921 [Vol. 12, Doc. 187]). For press coverage of this affair, see Illy 2006, pp. 318–328. [3] The French version of the Latin phrase “Audacter calumniare, semper aliquid hæret” (Hurl your calumnies boldly, for something is sure to stick), well known from Beaumarchais’s Barbier de Seville (1773), act 3, scene 13. Schopenhauer, in his Parerga und Paralipomena (1850), chap. 5, parag. 40, recalls Francis Bacon on this point, who, already in his 1623 De augmentis scientarum, book 8, chap. 2, claimed it was a common saying. [4] Robert A. Millikan (1868–1953) was chairman of the Executive Council of the California Insti- tute of Technology (Caltech) in Pasadena, Professor of Physics, and director of the Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics. Albert A. Michelson (1852–1931) was Professor of Physics at the University of Chicago. [5] Einstein’s trip was discussed at the plenary session of the PAW (see Vol. 12, Calendar, entry for 14 July 1921). When he was a dinner guest at a reception hosted by the president of the German Red Cross, Joachim von Winterfeldt, he reported on his visit and the gradual lessening of American animosity toward Germany. The event was also attended by German President Friedrich Ebert, members of the government, and the chief mayor of Berlin (see Vol. 12, Calendar, entry for 1 July 1921). [6] “Impressions of America,” Vossische Zeitung, 10 July 1921, p. 192 (Vol. 7, Appendix E). [7] As Silberstein had indicated in several letters, for the last time in that of 18 July 1921 (Vol. 7, Doc. 187).   – v c cos =