DOCS.
278,
279 AUGUST
1911
199
278.
To Willem
Julius
Prague,
24
August
1911
Highly
esteemed
Colleague:
Much
as
I
am
delighted at
having
obtained
such
proof
of
your
esteem and
friendly
disposition,[1]
and
as
great
as my sympathy
is
for
your uncommonly
likable
country,
I still
cannot
bring myself yet again
to
change my
sphere
of
action
and
my
environment.
I have
been
here
in
Prague
for
only
4
months,[2]
and
I feel
happy
that
I have
become
adapted,
to
some extent,
to
the
unfamiliar
circumstances. I
am
therefore
very sorry
that
I must
ask
you
to
consider another
colleague
for
the
vacant
position,
and I
thank
you
from
the
bottom of
my
heart for
having
wanted
to transplant
me
to
your
milieu.
It almost
happened
that
a
letter
from
me
to
you
crossed in
the
mail with
the
inquiry
that
you
addressed
to
me.
The
reason why
that
did not
happen
was
that
I did not know
in
what
town
you
lived.
And
now
by
a
lucky
coincidence
you
yourself
have
given me
your
address!
The
reason
I
wanted
to write to
you
concerns
the
question
about the
cause
of the
apparent
shift
of the
solar
absorption
lines to the
red end of
the
spectrum[3]
In
a
very
interesting paper
(Phys. Zeitschr.)[4]
you
have
recently
shown
that
one
could
attribute
this
shift to
dispersion.
However,
on
the
basis
of
some
ruminating, which, though
somewhat
daring,
does have
something
going
for
it,
I have arrived at
the
view
that the
gravitational
potential
difference
might
be the
cause
of the
line
shift.[5]
A
bending
of
light rays by
gravitational
fields also follows
from
these
arguments.[6]
I
am
sending
you
the
proofs
of
this
paper.
It
would be
of
great importance to
know
exactly
whether
this shift in the
magnitude
observed
must
occur as a
consequence
of
dispersion.
If
yes,
then
my
darling
theory must
go
in
the wastebasket.
With best
regards,
yours very truly,
A.
Einstein
279. To
Heinrich
Zangger
Prague,
24
August
[1911][1]
Dear
Mr.
Zangger:
I received
your proofs
and made
a
few
corrections
and
comments.[2]
Had
I
been
able
to
go
over
the
thing
with
you
in
person, I
would have
nagged
far
more;
as
it
is,
I
had
to
content
myself
with
just a
few remarks.
Perhaps
there
will
still be time
for that when I'm
in
Zurich.[3]
As
to
my
scientific
work, I
have
been
quite
diligent,
but
little
that
is
good
has
come
from
it.[4]
The formidable heat
must have
softened
my
brains.
Otherwise
I
am
fine,