DOCS.
159,
160 MAY 1909
119
I also want to tell
you
that
.
.
.
has
been determined
in Berlin
as
well,
and
that
the
relativity
theory
has
been
confirmed. The
paper
has
not
yet
appeared
but
is already
in
press.[9]
Now,
Prof. Pockels
is
an
extremely
nice and
modest
man.[10]
We have
(without
Lenard)
a
private
colloquium
in
Pockels'
apartment,
where
the
relativity
theory is
now
being
discussed.
The
theory
of
light
quanta
will
come
next.
Cordial
greetings
to
you
and
your family
from
your
J.
Laub
I
will
definitely
count
on your
visit.
Heidelberg is not
far.
Greetings
to
the
Bessos and
Guilleaums![11]
160.
To Jakob
Laub
Bern,
Monday
[17
May
1909][1]
Dear
Mr.
Laub,
First of
all,
my
heartiest
congratulations
on
your
assistantship
and the
salary
that
goes
with
it.[2]
This
news
gave
me
great pleasure.
But
I
think that the
opportunity
to
work
with
Lenard[3]
counts
even
far
more
than the
assistantship
and
the income
together!
Endure Lenard's
whims,
no
matter how
many
he
may
have.
He
is
a
great
master,
an
original
mind!
Maybe
he
is quite
affable with
someone
whom he has
learned
to
respect.
You did
not
yet
tell
me
what
experimental setup
you
have
chosen
for the
photoelectric
investigation.[4]
Please
make
up
for this
insofar
as
you
can
do
so
without
losing precious
time. Otherwise tell
me
about
it in
person.
I
busy myself incessantly
with
the
question
of
the
constitution of
radiation,
and
am
conducting
a
wide-ranging
correspondence
about
this
question
with H. A.
Lor[entz]
and
Planck.[5]
The former
is
an amazingly
profound
and at
the
same
time lovable
man.
Planck
is
also
very
nice in his
letters.
His
only failing
is
that
it
is
hard for
him to follow
other
people's
trains of
thought.
This
might explain
how he
could have
made
totally
wrong-headed
objections against my
last
radiation
paper.[6]
But he did
not
adduce
anything
against
my
criticism.[7]
So
I hope
that
he has
read
it and
accepted it.
This
quantum question is
so
extraordinarily important
and difficult
that
everybody
should take
the trouble
to
work
on
it.
I
already
succeeded
in
thinking up
something
that
is
formally
more or
less
adequate,
but
I have
good reasons
for
regarding
it
as
"garbage"
nonetheless.
I
am
supposed
to
give
a
lecture
in
Berlin
this
winter,
but
I
don't
know
yet
about
what.