Max Planck. 25 January 1928

Max Planck (1858-1947).

Autograph letter signed ('Planck') to [Wilhelm Wien] ('Lieber Kollege'), Berlin-Grunewald, 25 January 1928.

In German. 3½ pages, 219 x 141mm, on a bifolium. Provenance: by descent from Wilhelm Wien.

'The principle that papers on the theory of relativity are no longer to be included in the Annalen'. Planck writes to his fellow-editor of the Annalen der Physik with critiques of two papers. The first was submitted by 'Herr v[on] Ludwig' on a theory of optical imaging: Planck considers that as the paper correctly lays out the fundamentals, but says absolutely nothing new, 'it would perhaps be suitable for a schoolbook, but not for the Annalen'. The second, by Ernest-Maurice Lémeray, is a 'theory of the universe', which proposes a hypothesis 'that the Milky Way is an optical illusion, produced by the fact that light does not reach our eye with equal distribution from all the directions of space': Planck's objections here are that although the theory is not completely implausible, the paper is poorly reasoned and shows little knowledge of the current cosmological literature. He concludes: 'I believe therefore that the paper is not sufficiently important to justify an exception to the principle that papers on the theory of relativity are no longer to be included in the Annalen'. The letter concludes with a discussion of the shortage of manuscripts submitted to the Annalen, and possible remedies.

Planck and Wilhelm Wien had been joint editors of the Annalen der Physik since 1907: their collaboration was to be ended by Wien's death in August 1928, a few months after this letter.

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