D O C . 1 K A I S E R W I L H E L M I N S T I T U T E O F P H Y S I C S 1 7 Published in Vossische Zeitung, 1 April 1923, ME, 1st suppl., p. [1], [1]Written in response to a request sent by the Vossische Zeitung to directors of various scientific institutions (see Vossische Zeitung to Einstein, 15 March 1923 [Vol. 13, Doc. 444]). The responses were published in a supplement to the morning edition of Easter Sunday, 1 April 1923, under the title “Science in the Struggle for Life” (“Die Wissenschaft im Kampf ums Dasein”). They included state- ments by Generalleutnant a.D. Georg Weidner (Reichsamt für Landesaufnahme), Adolf Erman (Ägyptisches Seminar), Ludwig Diels (Botanischer Garten), Ferdinand Blumenthal (Institut für Krebsforschung), Paul Kehr (Monumenta Germaniae Historica), Franz Beyschlag (Geologische Lan- desanstalt), Georg Stuhlsauth (Seminar für christliche Archäologie), Fritz Williger (Zahnärztliches Institut), Ismar Elbogen (Wissenschaft des Judentums), Alois Brandt (Englisches Seminar). A week later, in an editorial entitled “Science’s Struggle for Life” (“Der Daseinskampf der Wissenschaft”), Erich Everth, who had earlier signed the circular letter, discussed the above statements (Vossische Zei- tung, No. 165, 8 April 1923, p. 4). Further responses were published in a supplement to that issue by Louis Ternier (Zoologisches Museum), Karl Knoch (Meteorologisches Institut), Eduard Wechsler (Romanisches Seminar), Gottlieb Haberlandt (Pflanzenphysiologisches Institut), Karl Scheel (Physi- kalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt). Einstein’s contribution was the shortest of all the responses. [2]The original memorandum for the founding of a Kaiser Wilhelm Institute of Physics (KWIP), drafted by Fritz Haber, Walther Nernst, Max Planck, Heinrich Rubens, and Emil Warburg on 14 Feb- ruary 1914 and submitted to the Prussian government, to the Kaiser Wilhelm Society (KWG), and to the Koppel Foundation, envisaged the institute as follows: “The location of the institute we imagine to be in Dahlem in a small building, which provides the facilities to hold meetings and to house an archive, library, and some physics instruments” (“Den Sitz des Instituts denken wir uns in Dahlem in einem kleinen Gebäude, welches die Möglichkeit zu Sitzungen sowie zur Aufbewahrung von Archiv, Bibliothek und einzelnen physikalischen Apparaten gewährt”) (GyBSA, GZK, Mappe: KWG Kirsten and Treder 1979a, p. 146 [81 894]). But in the process of requesting matching funds from the Prussian government, the Prussian minister of finance refused further financial obligations for a new institute (see August Lentze to Minister der geistlichen, Unterrichts- und Medizinalangelegen- heiten [August von Trott zu Solz], 31 July 1914, GyBSA, Rep. 76, Vc, Sect. 2, Tit. 23, Litt. A, Nr. 116, Bl. 25–27 [81 916]). Two weeks later, on 12 August 1914, in an emergency meeting of the KWG after the outbreak of the war, plans for the founding of the institute were shelved (GyBSA, GZK, 2.2.1., Nr. 21289, Bl. 230–232 [81 905]). When the institute was finally founded on 1 October 1917, only funds for the support of research, including a salary for Einstein as director, were secured (see Adolf von Harnack to Einstein, 12 September 1917 [Vol. 8, Doc. 379, note 2]). [3]An annual budget of 75,000 M (i.e., 75,000 gold marks) to cover “the maintenance costs of the institute and, above all, for the implementation of the experimental investigations to fulfill the insti- tute’s mission” (“für die Kosten der Erhaltung des Institutes und vor allem für die Ausführung der in Erfüllung der Institutszwecke auszuführenden Experimentaluntersuchungen”) was requested in the original memorandum of 14 February 1914 (see the preceding note). That same amount, to be sup- plied in equal parts by the KWG, the Prussian government, and the Koppel Foundation, was then adopted as the initial annual budget when the institute was founded in 1917 (see Adolf von Harnack to Einstein, 12 September 1917 [Vol. 8, Doc. 379], note 2). [4]For the fiscal year 1 April 1921–31 March 1922, the Institute had reported total revenues of 306,168.40 M (see “Übersicht über die Einnahmen und Ausgaben des Kaiser-Wilhelm-Instituts für Physik für die Zeit vom 1. April 1922 bis 31. März 1922,” GyBMPG, I Abt., 1A, 1665, Bl. 59 [77 966]). On 9 March 1923, the KWIP’s budget to be provided by the KWG was projected to be 21,675,000 M (see Friedrich Glum to Einstein, 10 March 1923 [Vol. 13, Abs. 542]). According to the respective exchange rates, the 75,000 gold marks were worth $17,857 in Febru- ary 1914 the 300,000 M were only worth $1,030 by 31 March 1922 and the 22,000,000 M were worth $1,035 on 29 March 1923 (see Feldman 1997, p. 5, and Vossische Zeitung, 1 April 1922, ME, and 4 April 1923, ME). Consequently, the funding allocated for the KWIP in late March 1923 was only approximately 1/17 of the originally planned allocation in February 1914. For historical discussions of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute and Einstein’s directorship, see Kant 1987, Schlüter 1995, and Castagnetti and Goenner 2004.
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