![EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955). Autograph letter signed ('A. Einstein') to W.J. de Haas and his family ('Meine lieben De-Haasen'), n.p., n.d. [annotated by recipient 'Autumn 1915'], 2½ pages, 4to, on a bifolium.](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2005/CKS/2005_CKS_07046_0104_000(101559).jpg?w=1)
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EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955). Autograph letter signed ('A. Einstein') to W.J. de Haas and his family ('Meine lieben De-Haasen'), n.p., n.d. [annotated by recipient 'Autumn 1915'], 2½ pages, 4to, on a bifolium.
EINSTEIN WRITES TO A COLLABORATOR ON GRAVITATION, MAGNETISM AND THE EINSTEIN-DE HAAS EFFECT. Einstein concurs with de Haas's decision to leave his post in Berlin, observing with some nostalgia that teaching is 'sehr amusant, und besonders, wenn man solide, unverdorbene Landkinder mit guten Nerven vor sich hat' (great fun, especially when you have a class of solid, unspoiled country children with good nerves). The letter continues with a significant, detailed discussion of gravitation: 'With gravitation there is as far as I can see not much to be done in the laboratory. The negative result of the independence of gravitational acceleration of matter is indeed sufficiently established. It would be enough for me, even in the absence of experiments with radioactive materials'. The letter goes on to discuss their work on 'the [Einstein-de Haas] effect': 'I too have made experiments in which I have reversed residual magnetism through the discharge current of a condenser. The thing hasn't yet been successful ...', and refers with admiration to [James Clark] Maxwell -- 'I actually still don't know what Maxwell did in this thing. In any case it shows here as well what a nose that man had', concluding that 'to do something analogous for metallic electrons is very hard. But you are in the best possible spot to start'.
Einstein's four-part lecture on the general theory of relativity, which expanded his special theory to include the effect of gravitation on the flow of space-time, was delivered at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in November 1915. The reference to James Clark Maxwell is especially interesting in this context, as Einstein's initial goal in developing the special theory in 1905 was to address the apparent inconsistencies in Maxwell's electromagnetic theory. The recipient of the present letter, Wander Johannes de Haas (1878-1960) collaborated with Einstein in work on the Einstein-De Haas effect in 1915 while on the scientific staff at the Physikalisch Technische Reichsanstalt in Berlin: these observations, in which they looked for a torque when suddenly reversing the magnetisation of a magnetised object, produced a measurement of what is now known as the Landé g factor: in what has been referred to as the 'only experiment of Einstein's career', they produced a reading subsequently considered to be out by a factor of two. De Haas's most influential work was to come in his observations on two electro-magnetic effects, the Shubnikov-De Haas effect and the De Haas-Van Alphen effect, both involving the resistance of bismuth at extreme temperatures.
EINSTEIN WRITES TO A COLLABORATOR ON GRAVITATION, MAGNETISM AND THE EINSTEIN-DE HAAS EFFECT. Einstein concurs with de Haas's decision to leave his post in Berlin, observing with some nostalgia that teaching is 'sehr amusant, und besonders, wenn man solide, unverdorbene Landkinder mit guten Nerven vor sich hat' (great fun, especially when you have a class of solid, unspoiled country children with good nerves). The letter continues with a significant, detailed discussion of gravitation: 'With gravitation there is as far as I can see not much to be done in the laboratory. The negative result of the independence of gravitational acceleration of matter is indeed sufficiently established. It would be enough for me, even in the absence of experiments with radioactive materials'. The letter goes on to discuss their work on 'the [Einstein-de Haas] effect': 'I too have made experiments in which I have reversed residual magnetism through the discharge current of a condenser. The thing hasn't yet been successful ...', and refers with admiration to [James Clark] Maxwell -- 'I actually still don't know what Maxwell did in this thing. In any case it shows here as well what a nose that man had', concluding that 'to do something analogous for metallic electrons is very hard. But you are in the best possible spot to start'.
Einstein's four-part lecture on the general theory of relativity, which expanded his special theory to include the effect of gravitation on the flow of space-time, was delivered at the Prussian Academy of Sciences in November 1915. The reference to James Clark Maxwell is especially interesting in this context, as Einstein's initial goal in developing the special theory in 1905 was to address the apparent inconsistencies in Maxwell's electromagnetic theory. The recipient of the present letter, Wander Johannes de Haas (1878-1960) collaborated with Einstein in work on the Einstein-De Haas effect in 1915 while on the scientific staff at the Physikalisch Technische Reichsanstalt in Berlin: these observations, in which they looked for a torque when suddenly reversing the magnetisation of a magnetised object, produced a measurement of what is now known as the Landé g factor: in what has been referred to as the 'only experiment of Einstein's career', they produced a reading subsequently considered to be out by a factor of two. De Haas's most influential work was to come in his observations on two electro-magnetic effects, the Shubnikov-De Haas effect and the De Haas-Van Alphen effect, both involving the resistance of bismuth at extreme temperatures.
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