Berlin, 1 May 1926

'Wonderful papers on the rules of quanta' by Schrödinger.

Besso had sent Einstein a scientific paper written by a young Berne chemist named Beck, and Einstein has read it, without finding much profundity in it: 'Naturally there is a rough relationship between reduction in volume and energy there, and one can try to approach empirical conditions from that starting point through the introduction of broader parameters'. But nothing really useful comes of it: 'It is not, in my opinion, through such pharmacists' methods [Apothekermethoden] that one gets closer to any of God's secrets'. He contrasts this with the work of Erwin Schrödinger, who has 'made a couple of wonderful papers on the rules of quanta. This reaches towards a deeper truth' ('Quantisierung als Eigenwertproblem' I and II, in Annalen der Physik, 1926). Einstein will come to Switzerland in July for the sitting of the League of Nations, after which he will take his younger son Eduard for a trip into the mountains, and also come and see Besso.