DOC.
346 MAY 1917 335
346. From Gustav Mie
curr[ently] Schierke,
in
the
Harz,
Haus
Tannenheim,
30
May
1917
To Privy
Councillor
A.
Einstein, Berlin,
Kaiser Wilhelm
Academy
Highly
esteemed
Colleague,
Privy
Councillor Hilbert
probably
informed
you
a
while
ago
that
I
am
going
to
give
a
few
lectures
on
the
5th, 6th,
and 7th
of June
in
Göttingen
and
that in
these lectures
I
intend to
present
some
thoughts
on
your theory
of
gravitation.[1]
I
consider
it
necessary
to write
you
about
what
approximately
I
plan
to
say.
I
am
convinced that,
of
all
the
theories of
gravitation, your
new
theory is
the
only
one
that
will induce
science
to
investigate
it
thoroughly
and to test
all
of
its
consequences,
because it alone
is
determined
entirely
by intrinsically convincing
principles.[2]
The
peculiar
thing
is,
though,
that
these
principles
can
be looked
upon
in
quite
different
ways,
depending
on
the
standpoint
one
chooses;
and at
Göttingen
I shall
try
to consider
your
theory
for
once
from
a
standpoint
other
than the
one
you
prefer
and which
had
helped
you
find
your
way.
For I want to
apply
to
your
theory
the
approach
upon
which
I
based
my paper on
the
relativity
of
gravitational potential.[3]
I
am
only
employing
considerations of
a very general
nature,
and
very
much of
what
I
am
going
to
say
is
long
since known
to
you,
in
any case. Despite
this, however, through
my very
simple
considerations
on
a
very
important
point,
I
come
to
an
interpretation
different from
yours, namely, on
the
meaning
of
general relativity,
the
general transformability
of
the
equations.
I
believe
I
can
show
that this
general transformability
does not
agree
with the
requirement
of
a
truly
finished,
self-contained
theory
of
the
physical
events,
and
that
some
means
have to be devised
to
paralyze
the
uncertainty
that
comes
with
it.[4]
I
can
offer
some
suggestions
about
these
means,
and
I
believe
that
your
introduction,
in
particular,
can
lead
to
further
interesting developments
in
the
theory.
For
all
that,
owing
to
the
issue
of
my
appointment[5]
and
other
matters,
my
time
was
unfortunately
far
too
For all
that,
in the last
year
I
have
unfortunately
had
too
little
time
at
my disposal
to
apply
differential
geometry
as
much
as
is
needed for such
problems,
and for this
reason
I must content
myself
with
a
general
indication
of
the
goal.
You
can
imagine
that
I
should be
especially
pleased
if
you
were
in
Göttingen
and
were
to participate
in
the
discussion. In
any case,
I shall take
the
liberty of
making
available to
you
as soon as
possible
the
exact
content
of
my
lectures.
In
assuring you
of
my
greatest
respect,
I
am
yours very truly,
Gustav
Mie.