8 V O L . 1 2 , D O C U M E N T 2 0 2 a 1 9 2 1 particular toward my colleagues there. Of course I undertook every means possible to neutralize this beastliness. But you know the relevant saying, “Calomniez tou- jours, il restera toujours quelque chose.”[3] Please be so kind as to explain to Mil- likan and Michelson,[4] and to all the other colleagues, what the true situation is! When I returned to the academy, and on several occasions, I spoke to gatherings of the most prominent German political figures about my experiences traveling in America (and England),[5] and emphasized quite strongly that I was met every- where by a friendly and conciliatory spirit, and that a genuine will to mutual under- standing is becoming more and more predominant, etc. Furthermore, to inform the larger general public, I wrote an article for the Vossische Zeitung.[6] But what was it all worth? It seems that only the most perfidious humbug is printed. I was happy to hear that Michelson is so energetically supporting carrying out the experiment that you suggested.[7] He will certainly be successful in performing it. Your article in the Phil. Mag.[8] is based on a readily discernible error. The fol- lowing is true: If a star—as seen from a system K that is at rest relative to that star— emits light to an observer in such a way that the line of sight makes an angle with the x-axis of the system, and if furthermore the same star is seen by another observ- er whose position is at rest relative to the system that is oriented parallel to K and is moving at a velocity v in a direction parallel to the positive x-axis of K, and if the angle between the line of sight of that observer and the direction is , then according to the theory of special relativity, . From this, however, it by no means follows that two stars that are located near to each other and are moving relative to one another must be seen by a distant ob- server in two different directions. Rather, as a result of the theory that light propa- gates along straight lines (relative to some system that of the observer), it holds that two stars that emit light from (practically) the same position must be seen by means of that light from any other position in the same direction, even if they are in relative motion with respect to each other. This naturally remains true in the spe- cial theory of relativity. These are in this case not objects that are being observed from bodies moving relative to one another, as for example in the case of the aber- ration of the fixed stars. If you consider this carefully, you will no doubt agree with me.— X    – v c cos =