DOCS.
385,
386
OCTOBER
1917 383
is
possible:
He walked!
That
is
why
I
examined whether it
was
possible
mathe-
matically to
arrive
at
the
known
final
equations
when “universal” time
is
simply
postulated.
On
the other
hand,
Minkowski has
emphasized
that the
great
merit
of
your
1905
paper
lies
in
the
fact
that it
explains
the
Lorentz
contraction
by
the
relativity
of
simultaneity.[5]
The
reciprocal
to
it has been
lacking
until
now,
though:
if absolute
simultaneity
is
introduced,
the
contraction must
disappear.
Now,
if
you can
prove
that the
path I
have taken
is
impossible
for
any reason,
then,
in
my opinion,
a
very significant
part of
the discussion of
general
importance
will
be clarified. The
question
of
whether
the
Lorentz
transformation
would have
to suffer
alteration
in
some
form
as a
result
appears insignificant
to
me
against
the
possibility
of
describing
the natural
processes
from
a
new angle.
It
was pre-
cisely
in order to
bring
clarity
to all these issues
that
I
produced my publication,
and hence
I
can
only
welcome it
being
responded
to
publicly
as
well.
I
hope
that
you
have found the
recovery
you
sought
in Switzerland.[6]
Your
optimistic hopes
for
the
future[7]
pleased
me
very
much.
In
looking
forward to
hearing
from
you
again
soon,
I
send
you my
kind
regards,
as yours,
Ed. Guillaume.
386. To
Adolf von Harnack
[Berlin,]
5
Haberland
St., 6
October
1917
Highly
esteemed
Colleague,
At
the
kind advice
of
our
colleague Planck,
I
request
herewith
that the
Board
of
Directors
of
the
Kaiser
W[ilhelm]
Institute
of
Physics
be invited
to
a meeting
to confer
particularly
on
the
following
subjects:
a)
Statutes.[1]
b)
Announcements
about the Institute
in the press.
Planck advised
me
to
add
that it
would
be
very
desirable if
a man
versed in
business affairs
(he
named
you personally
or
Mr.
Trendelenburg[2]) were
to chair
the
meeting.-
This
is just
supposed
to be
a
tentative
suggestion.
If
you
consider
it
expedient
to
choose
another
agenda
or
another
path
to set
about these
preparational
tasks,