2 9 4 D O C U M E N T 2 0 7 D E C E M B E R 1 9 1 9
nicht in die Zukunft (gottlob und Dank). Mit Maja und Pauli spukts. Die sollten
sich auch scheiden lassen. Pauli soll ein Verhältnis haben und die Ehe ziemlich ka-
put
sein.[12]
Nur nicht zu lange warten (wie ich); man macht sich für nichts und
wieder nichts kaput! Sprich einmal mit den beiden, wenn Du sie wieder siehst. Die
Mischehen taugen alle nichts (Anna sagt:
oho)[13]
Herzlichen Gruss, auch an Anna, mit der ich wieder Frieden geschlossen
habe.[14]
von Deinem
Albert
ALS (SzGB). Einstein/Besso 1972, pp. 147–148. [82 705]. Written on the letterhead of “Königlich
Preussische Akademie der Wissenschaften.” According to Pierre Speziali, the envelope is addressed
to Besso at “Münster
14II,
Zurich.”
[1]Dated by Speziali according to postmark on envelope (see Einstein/Besso 1972, p. 147).
[2]A reference to the prohibitively high costs of transferring German marks to Switzerland (see
Doc. 135). For Besso’s move from Rome to Zurich, see Doc. 129.
[3]In September, Walter Dällenbach had mentioned to Einstein that Besso was considering joining
a monastery (see Doc. 107). Einstein and Besso had worked together at the Swiss Patent Office in
Bern from 1904 until 1908 (see Besso’s biography, Vol. 1, pp. 378–379).
[4]Vero Besso was 21, Hans Albert, 15.
[5]At this point in the original text Einstein indicates a note he has appended at the foot of the page:
“Ich habe es versprochen, zweifle aber daran, dass ich das Versprechen halte. Mit so einer Gelegen-
heit ist zu viel Gequatsch und nutzlose Ermüdung verbunden.” (Elsa Einstein was of the same opin-
ion: see postscript to Doc. 204). The invitations Einstein received (Docs. 171 and 179) give 14–16
January as the dates of the meeting.
[6]Since 6 November 1919, when British astronomers announced that their observations confirmed
Einstein’s prediction of light deflection by the Sun (see Doc. 164, note 1).
[7]Possibly in connection with the results of experiments on photochemical reactions carried out
by Walther Nernst’s students Walter Noddack and L. Pusch that initially appeared to be in disagree-
ment with Einstein’s law of photochemical equivalence (see Nernst 1920). The comment may also
refer to the beginning of work on a new cooling process (called the Nernst–Einstein process; see draft
contract with A. Borsig, G.m.b.H., on its experimental testing, February 1922) and making use of it
in a small but high-efficiency refrigerator (see Walther Nernst to Einstein, 29 July 1921). Einstein
calls it an “ice machine” (“Eismaschine”) in his letter to Hans Albert and Eduard Einstein, 4 March
1922.
[8]The paper is Pauli 1919a; see also Doc. 189 for further comments.
[9]On Einstein’s plan to resolve, by astronomical observations, the question of whether the universe
is finite or not, see Doc. 197, note 4.
[10]Einstein’s mother was terminally ill with cancer (see Doc. 60).
[11]For previous correspondence on Einstein’s plans to move Mileva and their sons to Baden in
southern Germany, see Doc. 198. August Marx (1864–1934) was a grandnephew of Einstein’s pater-
nal grandfather, Abraham Einstein (1808–1868), and headmaster of the Markgrafen-Gymnasium in
Durlach, now a part of Karlsruhe.
[12]Maja Winteler-Einstein and Paul Winteler were married in 1910 (see Maja’s biography in
Vol. 1, p. 389).
[13]Both Einstein’s sister Maja and Michele Besso were married to non-Jews (Paul Winteler and
Anna Besso-Winteler [1872–1944], respectively). Einstein’s first wife, Mileva Einstein-Maric;;, was
also not Jewish.
[14]Einstein and Anna Besso-Winteler had had a falling-out over Einstein’s plans to marry Elsa
Einstein and over the financial aspects of Anna’s caretaking of Mileva Einstein-Maric;; in the fall of
1917 (see Anna Besso-Winteler to Einstein, after 4 March 1918 [Vol. 8, Doc. 475], and Einstein to
Mileva Einstein-Maric;, 4 June 1918 [Vol. 8, Doc. 557]).