DOCS.
123,
124
SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER
1915
133
This is
a
blatant
contradiction.[3]
I
do not
doubt, therefore,
that the
theory
covering perihelion
motion
is
suffering
from
the
same
fault.[4]
Either the
equations
are
already numerically
incorrect
(numerical coefficients),
or
I
am
applying
the
equations
in
a
principally
incorrect
way.
I
do not believe
that
I
myself
am
in the
position
to find
the
error,
because
my
mind
follows
the
same
old
rut
too
much
in
this
matter.
Rather, I must
depend
on a
fellow
human
being
with
unspoiled
brain
matter
to find
the
error.
If
you
have
time,
do not fail
to
study
the
topic.
With best
regards, yours,
A.
Einstein.
124. To Otto
Naumann
[Berlin,
after
1
October
1915][1]
Letter
to Naumann.
A
day
or so
ago
Dr.
Freundlich from
the
N[2] Observatory
called
on me.
He
told
me
that
on
the
occasion
of
an
official
meeting you
had
indicated to him
allusively
the
possibility
that
he be released from his duties
as
assistant
at
the
Observatory
for
some years,[3]
without
his
salary
as
assistant
being
cut
off.
I
was
extremely pleased
about
this information and
likewise
my colleague Planck,
who
recently encouraged
me
to
ask
you by
letter
to
be
sure
not
to
abandon this
liberating
idea.
This
man
is
crushingly
burdened with
the
responsibilities
of
an extremely
tiring
and
encumbering
job
that
is
preventing
him from
pursuing
the
questions
currently
so
important to
us.
This work
(measurement
of
the
sky
coordinates of
thousands
of
fixed stars)
can
be
performed
just
as
well
by any
trained individual
equipped
with
a
healthy
mind
as
by
a
person
who has his
own
ideas and
the
initiative
necessary
to
implement
them! The smaller
independent
researches Dr.
Freundlich
had
accomplished
previously[4]
under
the
burdensome
pressure
on
him
are
already
of great
value and
justify expecting
worthwhile results
if he
were given
the
freedom
and
opportunity
to conduct astronomical observations.
It
is
correct
that
by
relieving
Dr.
Freundlich
of
his
present
responsibilities,
a
temporary
increase in
expenditures
for
the
Observatory
could arise.
But
if
one
considers
the
minimal
practical
efficiency
that
research-oriented
budgeted
institutes
generally
can
show for
themselves,
in
my view,
one
should not
think
of
abandoning
the
goal
for
reasons
of
economy
in
a case
where
there
are
such
good
prospects
of
success,
and
the
funds
to
be
applied, relatively
low.
It
would
possibly
involve
employing provisionally
an
additional worker who would continue
that
cataloguing
work from which
Mr.
Freundlich
[would]
be released.
Maybe
this