288 DOCUMENT 220
MAY 1916
[4]Aurel
Stodola
had been
an important
mentor
for both
Besso
and Einstein in
the
area
of
applied
thermodynamics (see
Michele Besso to
Aurel
Stodola,
22
August 1941,
SzZE
Bibliothek,
Hs.
496:5).
[5]An
elementary
treatment
of
the
behavior
of
a
surface
of
the form sketched
here
shows
that,
on
being placed
in
a
moving
fluid,
it will
experience
a
net
upward
force, enabling
it
thereby
to
serve as
an
airfoil. On 2
June,
Einstein
discussed this phenomenon in
a
lecture to the
Deutsche
Physikalische
Gesellschaft
(DPG)
on an
elementary explanation
of
water
waves
and
of
flight
(see
Deutsche
Phy-
sikalische
Gesellschaft. Verhandlungen 18 (1916): 297).
A
paper on
the
same subject
was
published
on
25
August
as
Einstein
1916m
(Vol.
6,
Doc.
39).
[6]A
month
earlier,
Besso had become
a
Privatdozent in
patent
law
at
the
ETH
(see
Doc.
216).
Though a
course offering
by
Besso
was
not
announced
in
until the fall semester
(see
ETH Pro-
gramm 1916b,
p.
20),
he
may already
have offered
one
in the
summer semester.
[7]As a
Privatdozent
at
the
University
of
Bern,
Einstein had offered
a
course
on
the
theory
of
radi-
ation in winter semester
1908/1909,
which Besso audited
(see Seelig
1954,
p. 104).
[8]Perhaps
on
the effectiveness
of
a mixing
tube
(see
Vol. 6, Doc.
44).
[9]These
ideas
were explored
further in
later
correspondence
with Willem de Sitter
(see
Docs.
272
and
273)
and
ultimately
led
to the
cosmological
model that
was
proposed
in Einstein 1917b
(Vol.
6,
Doc.
43).
[10]Karl
Schwarzschild
died
on
11
May
of
the
rare
skin disease
pemphigus,
the
first
symptoms
of
which he had
developed
while
serving at
the
Russian
front. A memorial service
was
held in Potsdam
three
days later,
and
his
funeral took
place
on
16
May
in
Göttingen.
[11]Einstein
was
chosen
to
eulogize
Schwarzschild
in the Prussian
Academy, a
lecture which
took
place
on
29
June
(see
Einstein
1916h
[Vol.
6,
Doc.
33]).
In
it,
Einstein
praised
Schwarzschild
as a
“highly
talented and multifaceted scientist”
(“einen
hochbegabten
und
vielseitigen Forscher”).
[12]On
2
June,
Einstein
gave a
lecture
to
the DPG
on a thermodynamic
derivation
of
the
law
of
pho-
tochemical
equivalence
(see
Deutsche
Physikalische Gesellschaft. Verhandlungen
18
(1916): 297),
in
which he
apparently gave a simplification
of
the
proof
contained in Einstein 1912b
(Vol. 4,
Doc.
2).
The
new
proof
was
not
published.
[13]See
Einstein 1916e
(Vol.
6,
Doc.
30),
which
had
appeared
11
May.
220.
To
Paul Ehrenfest
[Berlin,
24
May
1916]
Lieber Ehrenfest!
Ich habe ein solches
Bedürfnis,
Euch
wiederzusehen,
dass ich kaum
auf
den
Frieden werde warten
können,
ohne
wenigstens
den Versuch
gemacht
zu haben, zu
Euch
zu
kommen.
Während
der Sommerferien wirds
probiert.
Meine
Spezialisie-
rung
des
Bezugssystems
beruht
nicht
nur
auf
Faulheit.[1]
Vielleicht werde
ich die
Sache auch einmal ohne die
Spezialisierung
darstellen,
so
etwa wie Lorentz in sei-
ner
Arbeit.[2]
Hilberts
Darstellung
gefällt
mir
nicht.[3] Sie
ist
unnötig speziell, was
die
"Materie"
anbelangt,[4] unnötig
kompliziert,
nicht ehrlich
(=
Gaussisch)
im
Aufbau
(Vorspiegelung
des
Übermenschen
durch
Verschleierung
der
Methoden).
Separata
der Arbeit
erhalte
ich
nur
20.[5]
Dafür
war
Ambr.
Barth
erbötig,
die Arbeit
als Broschüre
im
Buchhandel erscheinen
zu
lassen.[6]
Sie wird
in
den nächsten Ta-
gen
wohl herauskommen. So ist
es
besser,
wie
wenn
ich 100
Separata
bekommen