DOCUMENT
397
NOVEMBER
1917 549
Mit
den besten Grüssen
und
Wünschen für diese schwebenden Unternehmun-
gen
bin
ich
Ihr
ganz
ergebener
A. Einstein.
ALS (Christine
Magun-Meyer,
Bern). [75 594].
There
are
perforations
for
a
loose-leaf
binder
at
the
left
margin
of
the document. The
recipient
has written “Haberlandstr. 5”
at
the head
of
the letter.
[1]Meyer
had
been
appointed
Professor of
Experimental
Physics at
the
University
of Zurich
in
early
1916
(see
Doc.
119,
note
3).
[2]Under
police
surveillance in
Germany as a
Russian national and
enemy
alien,
Paul
Epstein
was
permitted
to
work
in Arnold Sommerfeld’s institute
at
the
University
of
Munich
(see
Sommerfeld
1942,
p.
127).
Earlier in the
year,
Epstein had, however,
applied
for the venia
legendi
in
physics
at the
University
of
Zurich
(see
Paul
Epstein
to
Heinrich
Mousson,
Erziehungsdirektor,
Canton
of
Zurich,
23
February 1917, SzZSa,
U 110
d
.2
(121)).
Einstein had
been
asked to intercede to allow
Epstein
eventually
to take
up a position
in Switzerland.
[3]After
some years
in
Zurich without
a position (see
Doc.
94,
in
particular,
note
7),
Max Abraham
took
a job
at
the
Telefunken-Gesellschaft in
Berlin,
investigating
theoretical
problems
in
radio
trans-
mission.
[4]Felix Ehrenhaft;
see
Ehrenhaft
1917 for
a
discussion
of
experimental
results which appeared to
place
the atomistic constitution
of
electricity
in doubt.
Meyer
encouraged
a
student in his
laboratory
to
perform
the
experiments,
the
results
of which
were
published
as
Bär
1918a, 1918b,
1919 and
con-
tradicted those
of
Ehrenhaft.
[5]In
Ehrenhaft 1917,
the
author
discusses
a
series
of
experiments
in which
falling
test
particles
made
of
different materials
are exposed
to
a
beam
of
light.
As it
turned
out, some
types
of
particles
move away
from
the
light
source,
others
move
toward
it,
and
a
third
group
are
not affected at all.
Ehrenhaft
claimed that his
experiments
showed that these
phenomena
are
the result
of
the
direct
action
of
the radiation
on
the test
particles
and
were
independent
of
any
influence that the
radiation
may
have
on
the
medium in which the
particles
move.
397.
From Zofija Smoluchowska-Baraniecka
Krakau,
Studencka 27
8/XI
1917
Hochverehrter
Herr
Professor,
Ihren Brief
von
23.
IX,
der
mir
so warme
und
tief
gefühlte
Worte
brachte,[1]
hätte
ich schon
lange
beantworten sollen. Es ist mir aber
zu
schwer
gewesen,
eben diese
Briefe,
die mich
gerührt
haben,
zu
erwidern.
Ich danke Ihnen
bestens,
für
Ihr
Schreiben,
das ich besonders hoch
schätze,
da
es
von demjenigen
kommt,
für
welchen mein Mann
immer
aufrichtige
Bewunde-
rung, grösste Verehrung
und wahre
Sympathie hegte.
Obwohl
hier
von
keinem
Trost
die Rede sein
kann,
doch ist
es
mir
so
schmerz-
voll-angenehm
zu
sehen,
wie Alle meines Mannes
Tätigkeit bewunderten,
wie
er
verehrt
und
geliebt
war:-ja-er
wusste
sich die Herzen Aller
zu
gewinnen.
Ich habe
vor
paar
Tagen, aus
dem Briefe
vom
Dr.
Berliner
erfahren,
dass Sie
so
freundlich
sind,
das Andenken
meines Mannes
ehren,
und einen
Nachruf
des
so
tragisch
und
plötzlich
zerschmetterten
jungen
Lebens verfassen
wollen.[2]