DOCS.
397,
398
MAY
1912 299
Private
residence: Trebizkeho
ul.
1215
Smichov.
Please
let
me
know
the
day
and
hour of
your
arrival.
398.
To
Heinrich
Zangger
Prague,
20
May
[1912][1]
Dear friend
Zangger,
Thank
you very
much for the
greetings you
sent from
your
vacation,[2]
and
for the
reprints.
I
really was
in
Berlin
during
vacation
and have
settled the
argument
with
Nernst
as
far
as
possible.[3]
Everybody was complaining
about Nernst.
I
myself
have
noticed that
he
is domineering
and
overly
sensitive,
but
not
that
he
is
dishonest. If
one
lives
some
distance
apart,
one can get along
with
him.
The other
fellows in
Berlin,
Haber,
Planck, Warburg, &
also
Rubens,[4]
are
all
splendid,
fine
fellows, making
the
expedition
very
pleasant.
Nernst
is
a
fabulous technician.
He
works with
relatively
simple
equipment.
The latest
significant
result
they
obtained there
is
that
at low
temperatures, i.e.,
heat,
hydrogen
behaves like
a
monatomic
gas.[5]
In
the
last few
days
I
have drawn
up
a
theory
about
this.
"Theory" is
too
pretentious
a
word for
it;
it
is
merely a
sort
of
groping
without
proper
foundations.[6]
The
more successes
the
quantum
theory
enjoys,
the
more
stupid
it looks. How the
non-physicists
would
ridicule
it if
they
could follow its
curious
course
of
development!
The
investigations
concerning gravitation
have led
to
some satisfactory
results,
even
though
I have
not
yet
been
able
to
advance
beyond
the statics
of
gravitation.[7]
The
differences
of
opinion
that
separate
me
from
Abraham's results
are no
longer
so
significant,
because
Abraham,
as
he
wrote to
me,
no longer
upholds
his
equations
of
motion
for
the material
point,
but instead intends
to
replace
them
with
the
ones
that
I
found.[8]
I
am
very glad
that
you
have
become
an
Ordinarius,[9]
because
this
proves
that
your
opponents
do not have
the
upper
hand.
Otherwise,
it
surely
doesn't make much of
a
difference
to
you.
Cordially yours,
Einstein
Give
my
best
regards
to
your
wife and
your
little
girl. My
wife also
sends her best
regards.
So,
Laue
is
now
coming
to
Zurich
to
the
university.[10]
I
am
pleased
that
we
will
be
seeing
each other. It
is
likely
that
he will
soon
be called
away by an
offer
from
elsewhere,
but
this will be less
of
a pity
than
in
Debije's
case.[11]
For
in
my
opinion
Laue
possesses
only
a
formal
talent, and
is
not much
of
a
teacher.[12] But, still,
he has
much that
I lack,
so
that
a
collaboration between the
two
of
us
could
perhaps
be
useful. I
almost
believe
that
it
would have
been
smarter
to
appoint
Ehrenfest
as an
Extraordinarius.[13]
But
do
not