Letters to Solovine: 1906-1955
Page 3
Perhaps we can settle the matter during my stay in Paris.
I am very glad that we are going to be together. I only wish I had a better tongue for French.
With friendly regards
Your
A. Einstein
Berlin
March 22, 1922
Dear Solo,
I expect to arrive the evening of the 28th on the only evening train or the morning of the 29th at the latest if I miss a connection along the way. I have already gotten rid of everything possible in order to have some time for living.
Looking forward to seeing you, I am
Yours
A. Einstein
April 20, 1922
Dear Solovine,
Hearty thanks for having sent me the things that I left in Paris. Those days were unforgettable but devilishly tiring; my nerves still remind me of them. Here I have not yet seen anyone, but I am told that the newspapers did a good job, with the result that the aim of the operation was fully realized. The corrections have not been completed, but you will receive them. The initial operation was successful; it is good that I was there. I am sending you a letter for Baron Rothschild which I would like for you to give him. Let us hope that we may again spend a day together just as we used to in Berne.
Cordial greetings
Your
A. Einstein
July 16, 1922
Dear Solovine,
Included herewith are the lectures. I shall make the minor changes in the book and correct the mistakes in spelling. I am glad that you are ready to take a trip to see your mother again at last. Here our daily lives have been nerve-racking since the shameful assassination of Rathenau. I am always on the alert; I have stopped my lectures and am officially absent, though I am actually here all the time. Anti-Semitism is strong. The endless chicanery of the Entente will fall upon the Jews again. There are complaints about numberless acts of chicanery against industry, the destruction of factories, under the pretext of military expediency.
Cordial greetings and much happiness
Your
A. Einstein
Painlevé is interesting, but it would be hard to defend what he has to say about relativity.
[Pentecost, 1923]
Dear Solovine,
It was wonderful in Japan. Genteel manners, a lively interest in everything, an artistic sense, intellectual honesty together with common sense. The brothers of our race in Palestine charmed me as farmers, as workers and as citizens. The country as a whole is not very fertile. It will become an ethical center but cannot accommodate a very large segment of the Jewish people. But I am convinced that colonization will be successful. I am glad that your trip was such a great success. Let us hope that we can talk about it at our ease one of these days. Send G.V.’s thing to Mr. Kuno Kochenthaler, Calle Lealtad, Madrid, and keep one-tenth for your services. Since I do not have Nordmann’s address, I am returning the proof to you. Unfortunately, the criticism leveled at it is justified. He must set it straight. Give him my cordial greetings. I resigned from a commission of the League of Nations, for I no longer have any confidence in this institution. That provoked some animosity, but I am glad that I did it. One must shy away from deceptive undertakings, even when they bear a high-sounding name. Bergson, in his book on the theory of relativity, made some serious blunders; may God forgive him.
Affectionate regards from
Your
A. Einstein
August 26, 1924
Dear Solo,
You do not have to send the proofs to me. Gauthier-Villars can simply send me the money at my Berlin address (Haberlandstr. 5).
Cordial regards,
A. Einstein
October 30, 1924
Dear Solovine,
You will receive by mail the brochure of Klass. d. ex. W. and the book…by A.M. That should be enough biographical material. I was always interested in philosophy but only as a sideline. My interest in science was always essentially limited to the study of principles, which best explains my conduct in its entirety. That I have published so little is attributable to the same circumstance, for the burning desire to grasp principles has caused me to spend most of my time on fruitless endeavors. The commission of the League of Nations was better than I thought. There is still hope that things will be better in Europe.
Cordial greetings from
Your
A. Einstein
November 8, 1929
Dear Solo,
Today I am giving a lecture on my new theory at 5:30 at the H. Poincaré Institute. I am sending you the enclosed ticket. We can spend the evening together if you have the time.
Looking forward to seeing you again, I am
Your
A. Einstein
December 28, 1929
Dear Solo,
I have looked everywhere for your Democritus but have not found it, though I recall having received it from you. Can you send it to me again? I will then read it immediately and write to you about it.
Affectionate regards
A. E.
March 4, 1930
Dear Solovine,
I needed some time to read through your Democritus, for I was burdened down with my own work and disturbed by other things. The first copy turned up in the interval.
I was elated on reading your Introduction. It seems to me that you handled Democritus’ relationship to his predecessors beautifully. To me at least it cast new light on one point: the reconciliation of the fixed absolute and formless change (atom and movement). Worthy of admiration in the original is the treatment of perceptible qualities. He goes to great lengths to defend his basic idea in his discussion of the sense of sight. A number of his moral aphorisms have real beauty, but many reek of philistine pettiness (ethical theory of herds of swine). The translation seems on the whole to be letter-perfect insofar as I can judge from my inadequate knowledge of French. Noteworthy is the firm belief in physical causality, which is not even stopped by the will of Homo sapiens. To my knowledge only Spinoza was so radical and so consistent.
My field theory is progressing smoothly. Cartan has done some good work in this area. I myself am working with a mathematician (W. Mayer of Vienna), a splendid fellow who would have been given a professorship long ago if he were not a Jew. I often think of the lovely Parisian days, but am satisfied with my relatively peaceful existence here. Do not hesitate to call on me if you think I can be of help in any way.
Cordial regards
A. Einstein
Caputh near Potsdam
July 6, 1932
Dear Solovine,
Herewith the contract with my sincere thanks for your letter. Soon I hope to write the short treatise on the cosmological problem.
I shall not be present at the Geneva congress. It is enough for me to serve on a committee. I can be more useful at my desk than through direct participation, especially so in view of the fact that I am no orator.
Cordial regards to you.
Your
A. Einstein
Caputh near Potsdam
September 29, 1932
Dear Solo,
You impatient scoundrel! I managed to tie the thing together only after putting myself to a great deal of trouble and going through much reshuffling and some real work. But now it is crystal clear. I hope you will like it. But I reserve the right to incorporate it later into an English publication that I have been promising for two years.
I hope that you, personally, are well in this topsy-turvy world in which the hypocrisy of “cultured people” makes it impossible to exterminate militarism.
Cordial greetings from
Your
A. Einstein
Please return the manuscript after you have made the translation.
Caputh near Potsdam
October 6, 1932
Dear Solovine,
By the end of December I shall be in America, unfortunately, so that we are not going to be able to see each other here. I inserted the word
“so-called” into the expression “Cosmological Problem” because the title did not accurately characterize the subject dealt with. I believe that we can change the title to “On the Structure of Space in General.” I hope that you will soon regain your usual good humor, which has always been solidly grounded on resignation.
Cordial regards to you
Your
A. Einstein
Caputh near Potsdam
November 20, 1932
Dear Solovine,
I am firmly convinced that with you the whole affair is in good hands, and I give you full authority to settle everything without me, using your own judgment. It would be best for you to send the copies to me next April at my Caputh address only. I do not need them in America.
Tell Langevin that I again thank him sincerely, and insist that he answer my letter soon. There is to be an international meeting of distinguished intellectuals who are staunch pacifists; their aim is to gain a voice as a body in the political press and exert their influence on questions of disarmament, security, etc. Langevin should be the soul of such a group, for he has not only good will but also keen political insight.
Cordial greetings,
Your
A. Einstein
Le Coq near Ostend
April 23, 1933
Dear Solo,
I could not manage to answer your letter on time, so great was the stream of letters and men. I fear that this epidemic of hatred and violence will become widespread. It rises like a torrent until the upper layers are isolated, distressed, demoralized and engulfed by the flood. I now have more professorship than rational ideas in my head. The devil mocks the people!
Enough nonsense. Let us hope that we may still see each other one day when calmness has again enfolded me.
In the meantime I send you my warmest regards.
Your
A. Einstein
If you see any Jewish academicians who are refugees from Germany, please have them get in touch with me. I would like to try with some friends to found a free university abroad (England?) for Jewish teachers and professors; it might at least meet their most pressing needs and create a sort of intellectual refuge.
Le Coq
May 19, 1933
Dear Solovine,
Nothing again concerning the Pentecost project. As a matter of fact, I have to go to Zurich the day after tomorrow to see my ailing son and immediately thereafter to Oxford (Christ Church College) where I am to remain until about June 20. It is quite possible that I shall then come to Paris for the business of the Collège de France. In that case, we may see each other in Paris; otherwise, I hope it will be here, where I intend to spend the summer. Despite all the excitement and interruptions, I am happy because of the good work which I have done here with my scientist friend.
Warmest greetings to you (hastily),
Your
A. Einstein
Princeton
April 10, 1938
Dear Solovine,
I still hope to be able to entrust the translation of our book into French to you. Mr. Infeld has, it is true, already promised a French concern (Flammarion) the publication rights; but we reserved the right to choose the translator ourselves. Mr. Infeld has already given your address to the publisher. The book owes its existence to the fact that I was obliged to provide for Mr. Infeld, who was refused a fellowship. We worked out the subject very carefully together, giving particular attention to the epistemological point of view. In Mach’s time a dogmatic materialistic point of view exerted a harmful influence over everything; in the same way today, the subjective and positivistic point of view exerts too strong an influence. The necessity of conceiving of nature as an objective reality is said to be superannuated prejudice while the quanta theoreticians are vaunted. Men are even more susceptible to suggestion than horses, and each period is dominated by a mood, with the result that most men fail to see the tyrant who rules over them.
If this were true only of science, one could dismiss it with a smirk. But the same holds in politics and in our lives. Our times are so wretched that not one enlightened man is left. On the one hand are fools with evil intentions; on the other, a base egotism. Naturally, America is no different, everything coming here later and more slowly. You are not made for this situation. One must be young and cut to a pattern or die of hunger. To be sure, I am highly esteemed, like an old museum piece or curiosity, but such a dada is overlooked. I work earnestly always, supported by a few courageous colleagues. I can still think, but my capacity for work has slackened. And then: to be dead is not so bad after all.
Warmest greetings,
Your
A. E.
Nassau Point, Peconic
Long Island, N.Y.
June 27, 1938
I believe it would be to your advantage to exchange places with your mother. The German translation was made by an irksome colleague who owes our approval, alas, to pity. You should therefore concentrate your efforts, as you yourself suggest, on the English text.
In the English edition there is unfortunately, with respect to developments concerning the propagation of light, a misstatement of fact as to the time of the setting of the sun. I simply can not understand how my colleague, who can usually be relied on, could have written that or how I could have let it pass. The passage states that at the instant a sunset is observed, the setting has actually occurred six minutes earlier. This mistake springs from a geocentric description from the point of view of a system of coordinates that rotate with the earth. Unfortunately, I cannot find the passage, but you will certainly come across it. Thus I cannot say at the moment whether the sentence should be deleted or replaced by another. You may leave out the curricula: you need not send me the proofs; I have full confidence in you intelligence.
The Title Evolution de la Physique does not seem to me to express the intention exactly. Actually, I was not in complete agreement on the English title. The German title seems more apt to me, for it points up the psychological or subjective moment. The word “clue” as used in police jargon means a decisive point of view (trail) that leads to the solution of a crime or to a causal chain of isolated facts revealed by experience. The choice of the right French word is up to you. It is not true that I am leaving for Europe. I am staying here in a quiet corner during the summer and always struggling to have as little as possible to do with others. If anyone can understand this, it would have to be you.
I am working with my young people on an extremely interesting theory with which I hope to defeat modern proponents of mysticism and probability and their aversion to the notion of reality in the domain of physics. But say nothing about it, for I still do not know whether the end is in sight.
Cordial greetings to you
Your
A. Einstein
December 23, 1938
Dear Solovine,
The misfortune which you describe concerning the French edition of the book is great. But I think that we should consider ourselves extremely fortunate if this were the worst that actually happens through human frailty. Let us then bow ungrudgingly to the inevitable.*
France’s betrayal of Spain and Czechoslovakia is frightful. The worst part is that the consequences will be deplorable.
In my scientific work I have come across a wonderful subject which I am studying enthusiastically with two young colleagues. It offers the possibility of destroying the statistical basis of physics, which I have always found intolerable. This extension of the general theory of relativity is of very great logical simplicity.
Warmest greetings to you,
Your
A. Einstein
* * *
*The copies arrived and look beautiful. Only the gods know when I shall find time to look more closely at the poor things.
August 29, 1946
Dear Solovine,
I was very glad to receive your letter, and can hardly wait to see you again after having been seriously concerned over you, I must confess. You write to me so p
olitely—as if you had never herded pigs with me and done other things with me when we were both still young. I have also heard from Habicht, whose whereabouts are probably unknown to you.
Wishing you and yours the very best and looking forward to our happy reunion in October, I am
Your
A. Einstein
October 5, 1946
Dear Solovine,
I am very happy because of you and because we can see each other once again in this best of all possible worlds and talk about all possible things. You will live with me, first because you should and second because right now it is impossible to find a room here. So there!
Same as ever,
Your
A. Einstein
April 9, 1947
Dear Solovine,
You alone would suffice to keep my bad conscience alive if it did not find ample nourishment elsewhere. For you have written me in such an amiable manner and in such detail at different times. You had an adventurous trip and were able to become acquainted with both sides of Uncle Sam; you had a good look at his cavalier treatment of persecuted people, or rather those whom others have persecuted; he is undertaking a number of things in this area and making great progress.