3 5 4 D O C U M E N T 2 5 5 J A N U A R Y 1 9 2 0
[8]For similar statements regarding his reluctance to give lectures in Zurich, see Docs. 66 and 235.
[9]Constantin Carathéodory had accepted a call to the University of Athens (see Doc. 189 and its
note 14). Gustav Herglotz (1881–1953) was Professor of Mathematics at the University of Leipzig;
Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer. For the Berlin offer made to Brouwer, see Dalen 1999, pp. 300–304.
[10]Richard Courant, who was Jewish, took up a position as Professor of Mathematics at the Uni-
versity of Münster in spring 1920.
[11]Pauline Einstein arrived in Berlin to stay with the Einsteins on 28 December 1919 (see
Doc. 242).
[12]Gijsbert W. van Aardenne.
[13]Einstein spent the second half of October 1919 in the Netherlands.
[14]Grebe and Bachem’s paper on the reasons for the earlier negative redshift results (see Doc. 232)
had already been submitted to the Zeitschrift für Physik on 25 December 1919.
[15]The executive committee (Vorstand) of the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft and its Journal
Commission held meetings from 28 to 30 December 1919 under the chairmanship of Arnold Som-
merfeld. Peter Debye, editor of the Physikalische Zeitschrift, who had earlier objected to the founding
of the Zeitschrift für Physik (see Doc. 221), was present as a newly elected member of the committee.
Also attending were representatives of the publishing houses Vieweg and Hirzel. The meeting was
aimed at unifying the physics journals and reducing costs. The meeting’s protocol reports unanimity
in the executive committee about the aims, and mentions that further negotiations were being held
among the publishers. A final decision was scheduled for the next meeting of the Gesellschaft
Deutscher Naturforscher und Ärzte (Verhandlungen der Deutschen Physikalischen Gesellschaft 1
(1920): 9).
[16]The violins ordered for Ehrenfest’s daughters and for himself (see Doc. 204).
[17]Einstein wrote to Heinrich Zangger (Doc. 242) and Edgar Meyer (Doc. 247) concerning a pos-
sible appointment for Paul Epstein at the University of Zurich.
255. To Charles-Eugène Guye
Berlin, den 12. Jan. 20
Lieber Kollege!
Ihre freundliche Aufforderung hat mich sehr gefreut. Sobald ich wieder in die
Schweiz komme, was sich wohl im Laufe des nächsten halben Jahres ermöglichen
lassen wird, werde ich Ihrem Wunsche gern
nachkommen.[1]
Es wird mir eine gros-
se Freude sein, nach so vielen Jahren Genf wiederzusehen, das zu der glücklichen
Rolle auserkoren ist, Sitz des Völkerbundes zu
werden.[2]
Ihre Untersuchung über die Elektronenbewegung gehört nach meiner Ansicht zu
den wichtigsten Bestätigungen der speziellen
Relativitätstheorie.[3]
Ich erinnere
mich nicht, ob ich Ihnen damals meine Freude über das Gelingen dieser feinen Un-
tersuchung ausgedrückt habe.
In der Vorfreude Sie und die andern Genfer Kollegen bald wiederzusehen, bin
ich mit herzlichen Grüssen Ihr
TLC. [11 395]. Addressee’s name is typed above salutation: “Herrn Prof. Dr. C. E. Guye Genf.”
[1]In early January, Guye invited Einstein to lecture at the University of Geneva (see Doc. 243).
[2]Einstein had visited Geneva in 1909 (see Doc. 243); Geneva had been designated as the seat of