DOCS.
377,
378
MARCH
1912 279
unreliable because
the
theoretical
and
actual
curves
do
not
coincide
closely
enough,
so
that
it will
not
be
possible
to
answer
the
question
by using
this
approach.
After Easter
I
am going
to Berlin
in
order
to be able to
talk
shop
with
various
people.[8]
I will
be
talking
with
Nernst,
Planck,
Rubens,
Warburg,
Haber
and
an
astronomer.[9]
(I
think that
there
is
something
fishy
about Nernst's "third
law.")[10]
More about that when
we
meet
in
person.
It
is
an
empirical
fact
that
gold-plated
surfaces have
a
rather
constant
Volta
effect.
Habicht
also
found that
part
of the fluctuations
stems from
the Welsbach mantle
(evaporation
of
emanation).[11]
One
sees
how delicate
these
things
become when
one
wants to
move
below
a
thousandth of
a
volt.
The
main
thing
is
that the instrument
is
working
well
and
reliably,
and
is
slowly
also
finding
acceptance.
Habicht
recently
demonstrated
the
thing
to
the
Swiss
physicists
in
Bern.[12]
All
of
us are very glad
that
we
will be
going
back to
Zurich.[13]
There
is
a
richer intellectual
life
there,
and
more
of
an
enthusiasm for
research,
than
here.
I
hope
that
we
will
manage to
be
together
again
this
summer,
whether
in
Gorizia
or
in Zurich. I
am
happy
that
you
are
doing
so
well,
and also
that Marie
is
expecting a
little
boy
(?), to
whom I will be
a
kind
of
uncle,
as a
matter
of
fact.[14]
I will send
Vero
a
book
containing
instructions
for
interesting
experiments.[15]
But
you
must
help
him
a
little.
Cordial
greetings to
all of
you
from
your
Albert
[...][16]
378.
From
David
Hilbert[1]
[Genoa,
30 March
1912]
Highly
esteemed
Colleague:
I would
very
much
like
to
have in
my possession copies
of
your
theoretical
papers
on
the
theory
of
gases
and
on
the radiation
theory.
Perhaps
you
still have
some
reprints
available?
With
best
regards,
yours truly,
Hilbert
I
am
staying
here
at
the Grand Hotel
Alassio until
19
April.