D O C U M E N T 3 7 2 A P R I L 1 9 2 0 4 9 9
[1]In early March, Paul Ehrenfest had sent Einstein detailed instructions on the customary formu-
lation for the dedication of the inaugural lecture at the University of Leyden (see Doc. 347).
[2]In early February, Einstein had agreed with Ehrenfest that his inaugural lecture in Leyden should
be printed in Germany (see Doc. 294).
[3]One of two violins that Einstein purchased in Germany for Ehrenfest’s daughters (see Doc. 335).
Einstein’s own had a lacquer coat that would not dry completely for a year (see Doc. 294).
[4]On 17 March, Hendrik A. Lorentz proposed that Einstein come to Leyden even before the ap-
pointment procedures were completed (see Doc. 355).
[5]See entry of 23 March 1920 in Calendar for Einstein’s invitation to Christiania (present-day
Oslo, Norway).
[6]Ehrenfest pointed out the need for a Dutch title page in late January (Doc. 272); the curators are
identified in Doc. 303, note 7.
[7]Ehrenfest had coached Einstein on pronouncing this traditional closing to a Dutch inaugural lec-
ture (see Doc. 347).
[8]Lorentz and Ehrenfest offered a position to Paul Epstein as Assistent, to begin in September
1920 (see Doc. 347).
[9]Einstein drew Edgar Meyer’s attention to Epstein’s abilities and needy situation in Doc. 296. On
the result at the faculty meeting, see Doc. 335, note 11.
[10]Grebe and Bachem 1920, requested in Doc. 347.
[11]Ehrenfest gave a brief account of Willem Julius’s reexamination of observational data on line
shifts in solar and terrestrial spectra that had led to the conclusion that there is no place there for a
gravitational redshift (see Doc. 347).
[12]In Doc. 353.
[13]In order to get rid of systematic errors in measurements, Erwin Freundlich was working on a
new light source, an electric oven (see Doc. 328).
[14]Ehrenfest contended that his derivation was correct (see Doc. 347).
[15]For earlier remarks on Einstein’s efforts to modify general relativity through an approach
involving overdetermination of the equations, see Doc. 335.
[16]Einstein may be referring to his work in Einstein 1919a (Vol. 7, Doc. 17), on an interpretation
of his cosmological theory, which included an explanation for forces supposed to stabilize the elec-
tron. In Doc. 187 he confided to Adriaan Fokker that Lorentz had cast doubt on the robustness of this
model.
[17]For Franz Oppenheimer’s closing platitude that no one knows what the future will bring, see
Doc. 303.
[18]He praised the novel to Heinrich Zangger as well (see Doc. 361).
[19]On the extension of the Allied blockade of Germany past the end of the war, and its impact on
the German population in causing hunger and disease, see Doc. 177, note 7.
Less than one month earlier, the right-radical Kapp Putsch had taken control of the German gov-
ernment for four days (see Doc. 352, note 9). Street battles and political murders were rampant, the
vast majority of these committed by anti-Republican rightists, unemployed armed veterans, and dis-
gruntled former officers (see Gumbel 1921 and 1922, and Doc. 361, note 7).
372. From Maurice Solovine[1]
Paris
(13e)
39, Boulevard de Port-Royal. den 7 April 1920
Lieber Einstein!
Der hiesige naturwissenschaftliche Verleger Gauthier-Villars fragte mich neu-
lich an, ob ich geneigt wäre eine weiteren Kreisen zugängliche Darstellung Ihrer
grossartigen Entdeckung auszuarbeiten. Er überlasst mir die Freiheit Ihre Theorie
auch vom philosophischen Standpunkte aus zu beleuchten.