Princeton, 14 December 1946

Memories of his youthful brilliance, and his current 'fruitful and silent work'.

Einstein has read with interest a memoir by Besso about their time together in the Swiss Patent Office (at the time when they were developing together the theory of special relativity), and particularly a remark by an old colleague about their discussions on scientific subjects whilst at work: 'I cannot see anything bad in it, if at the office our talk turned occasionally to something rational, but for which the state had not exactly intended our pay. He may console himself with the thought that for God too the creation of the world was presumably only a pointless luxury, but he did it anyway. In any case, I have noticed that what men earn their pay for is rarely anything rational and usually not even anything respectable'. Einstein declines to intervene in favour of a certain Mr Dénes, who is asking for support on a scheme of an electro-technical nature: 'It would be a misuse of my good name if I were to intervene in favour of a thing which I am in no position to evaluate'. Even with institutions in the US, Einstein disclaims any influence 'because of my retired life': 'The only person with whom I de facto have something to do is my assistant, with whom I am working on the utilisation of the theory of relativity, a fruitful and silent work, whose worth will certainly be apparent at some point'.