222
DOCS. 305-307
NOVEMBER
1911
Onnes.[8]
H. A.
Lorentz
is
a
marvel
of
intelligence
and
tact.
He
is
a living
work
of
art!
In
my
opinion
he
was
the
most intelligent among
the theoreticians
present.
Poinkare
was
simply negative
in
general, and,
all his
acumen
notwithstanding,
he showed little
grasp
of the situation.
Planck stuck
stubbornly
to
some
undoubtedly
wrong
preconceived
opinions[9]
......
but
as
for
knowing,
nobody
knows
anything.
The
whole
story
would
be
a
delight
to
diabolical
Jesuit fathers.
The best of health
to
your
wife and
greetings
to
your
little
children. Cordial
greetings
to
you,
and
may you soon get
a
patient
or
something
to
that
effect in the
vicinity
of
Prague!
Write
soon
again
rather
legibly
to
your
Einstein
I
am
just reading
the foundations of the
poor departed mechanics,
which
is
so
beautiful.[10]
What
will its
successor
look
like? I
toil at
that
incessantly.
306. To
Willem Julius
Prague,
16
November
[1911][1]
Highly
esteemed
Colleague:
I
am
turning to
you
with
a
strange
request.
I
have
just
received
a
letter from
Zurich,
from which I
see
that
they
want
to offer
me an
appointment at
the Zurich
Polytechnic.[2]
The
unexpected
haste
of
the
people
in
Zurich
is
due
to
their fear that
I will
go
to
Utrecht. But if
they
were
to
learn the
day
after
tomorrow,
or
at
some
other date
in
the
very
near
future,
that
Debije
is
going
to
Utrecht,[3]
they
would lose
their fervor
at
once
and
keep
me
forever
in
suspense.
I ask
you
therefore
to
wait
a
little
longer
with
the
official offer
to
Debije.[4]
In
return,
I will
inform
him
immediately
that
I have declined
the
position
at Utrecht, and
that the
faculty
there
will
shortly
be in contact with
him.[5]
In
the
hope
that
you
will
not resent
this
curious
request, I
send
you my
best
regards
and
remain
yours very truly,
A.
Einstein
307. To
Marcel Grossmann
Prague,
18
November
1911
Dear
friend
Grossmann,
I
am
most
certainly inclined,
in
principle,
to
accept
a
teaching position
in
theoretical
physics
at
your
Polytechnic.[1]
The
prospect
of
returning
to
Zurich makes
me extremely