C A L E N D A R 1 9 1 9 5 8 5
December Draft of an appeal for contributions to Albert Einstein
Donation Fund (Albert-Einstein-Spende) to secure means
for astronomical proof of the general theory of relativity.
Since the academies of Great Britain, the USA, and France
had set up a committee, without inviting Germany, for “a
firm action in providing an experimental foundation to the
general theory of relativity,” it becomes a “duty of honor” to
facilitate “the construction of at least one German observa-
tory that would make possible the examination of the theory
in collaboration with its creator.” In a note to the draft,
Walther Nernst agrees with its content and consents to sign.
Provenance: GyBAW, II-XIIuu-2313/3, Bl. 1. Kirsten and
Treder 1979a, Nr. 98.
December 1 1-page TLS to Adolf von Harnack. Requests that the money
for KWIP expenses should be advanced in installments of
1,000 rather than 500 M, and asks Harnack to inform Men-
delssohn & Co. accordingly. Provenance: GyBP, I. Abt.,
Rep. 1A, Nr. 1657. [77 302].
Asked by M. Rubner to evaluate Fritz Knapp’s manuscript
“Über Lichtringe im Raume des Planetensystems” [84 008],
submitted on 28 November 1919. Provenance: GyBAW,
II-VI, Bd. 121, Bl. 241. [84 006].
December 3 Interview with the Berlin correspondent of the New York
Times: “Einstein expounds his new theory.” Einstein’s
observation of a man falling from a roof led “not to a dis-
avowal of Newton’s theory of gravitation but to a sublima-
tion or supplement of it.” [84 761].
Participates in a meeting of a special committee of the board
of directors of the DPG to transform that part of Verhand-
lungen der DPG that published papers into a journal, to be
sold separately and with a more marketable title. Prove-
nance: Minutes of 19 December 1919 meeting of the board
of directors and advisory board of the DPG; GyMDM,
Archiv NL 89, 018, Mappe 3,7, and DPG Verhandlungen 21
(1919): 673–675.
December 4 1-page ALS to secretariat of the physical-mathematical
class of the PAW. Evaluates Fritz Knapp’s manuscript (see
entry of 1 December) as follows: “Phantastische, unklare
Idee ohne irgend annehmbare Begründung. Durchaus