250
DOCS. 342-344
JANUARY
1912
In
any
event,
let
me
know
the
exact
time of
your
arrival,
so
that
I
can pick
you
up
at the
railway
station.
343. To
Wilhelm
Wien
Prague,
27 January
[1912]
Highly
esteemed
Colleague:
From
a
kindhearted communication
from Prof.
Rubens[1]
I
see
that
my
paper,
"Zur
Theorie der Reststrahlen"
cannot
be
upheld
in its
present form.[2] I
would
therefore
like
to
ask
you
to
prevent
the
publication
of the
paper,
if
possible, so
that
I
may modify
it and
then resubmit
it in
a
modified form. But if
the
customs
of the editorial
office
demand
that the
paper
be
published
in this
form,
then
I
would
like
to
add
a
corrective
postscript.
With
best
regards
and
sincere
thanks
for
your
kind
postcard,
yours very truly,
A.
Einstein
P.S. I have
a
dispute
with
Abraham
concerning
his
theory
of
gravitation.[3]
The truth
is,
the
latter
does
not
account for
the
bending
of
light
rays.[4]
344. To
Heinrich
Zangger
[Prague,
27
January
1912][1]
I
am
very
pleased
about
Debije's
appointment.[2]
Perhaps
he will
stay
in
Zurich,
so
that
we can
be there
together.[3]
I
have
written
a
thermodynamical paper
about
photoreaction,
which
irrefutably
demonstrates that radiant
energy
hv of
frequency
v
is
necessary
to
split
a
molecule.[4]
In this
way one
becomes
independent
of the
theory
of
quanta
to
a
certain
degree.
The
business with
the residual
rays
is
nevertheless
not
as
simple
as
I thought.
Rubens
reported
observations
from which it follows
that both
reflection
maxima
in
the
case
of
NaCl
are
real. In the
main, however,
the
thing
will still
turn out to
be
true-it
is
only being
obscured
by
the
absorption
properties.[5]
In
Berlin
they
have
now
found
that, at
sufficiently
low
temperatures,
the
gaseous
hydrogen
behaves
like
a
monatomic
gas.[6]
I have
come up
with
a
theory
concerning
that,
but
its basis
is
not
yet
secure.[7]
I will tell
you
about
it
later.
Columbia
University
in New
York
has
invited
me
to
lecture
there
next fall. But
I
am
not
going.[8]
I
am
not
going
to Vienna
either.
I
don't
like this
public
lecturing.[9]
Abraham
has
supplemented
my
gravitation
thing, making
it into
a
closed
theory,
but
he
made
some
serious mistakes
in
reasoning
so
that the
thing
is
probably
wrong.[10]
This
is
what
happens
when
one
operates
formally,
without
thinking
physically!
Cordial
greetings
from
your
Einstein