I N T R O D U C T I O N T O V O L U M E 1 4 l x x v also stated that the University of Montevideo would offer 1,000 pesos for possible lectures there (Doc. 193). In Brazil, the initiative to invite Einstein originated with Rabbi Isaiah Raffalovich, who, once aware of Einstein’s planned tour in Argentina, urged Ignácio do Amaral, president of the Polytechnic School in Rio de Janeiro, to extend an invitation as well.[52] In March 1924 Einstein accepted the invitation from the University of Buenos Aires, yet stated that he could not visit in the current year due to his busy schedule (Abs. 238, 250, 356, Doc. 222). By July he had apparently decided to travel to South America the following June, as “they are just about pulling my skin off” (Doc. 285). But by late October he brought the date forward, and informed Hans Albert that he would be departing for South America on 3 March 1925 (Doc. 348). Various factors contributed to the vivid interest in bringing Einstein to South America. As in other countries, relativity had become a “serious cultural concern” in Argentina, accompanied by much public debate. Books and popular articles had already been published on the topic. A controversy on positivism had arisen in the local scientific community, bolstered by a significant presence of scientists who were either of German origin or who had been educated in Germany, and both sides were eager for Einstein to weigh in. His pacifism was certainly appealing to many local intellectuals. And the Jewish community viewed his visit as an opportunity to improve the public perception of Jews in Argentinian society.[53] Unlike Argentina, regarded as “one of the leading centers of physics in the southern hemisphere,” the scientific communities in Uruguay and Brazil were “at a much more incipient stage” in their development. In Uruguay, physics was only studied at the University of Montevideo’s School of Engineering and at the Poly- technic Association of Uruguay. Brazil had only one university at the time, estab- lished in Rio de Janeiro in 1920.[54] Therefore, in Uruguay and Brazil, Einstein’s visit was mainly of interest to physicians and engineers, rather than to physicists.[55] Relativity had been “first propagated in Brazil through lectures by visiting French mathematicians and physicists,” especially by Emile Borel in 1922 and Jacques Hadamard in 1924. The first book on relativity was published in Brazil in 1922 by Manoel Amoroso Costa, a professor of mathematics and engineering at the Polytechnic Academy. His colleague, the prominent anti-relativist Licinio Athanasio Cardoso, published an article against relativity during Einstein’s visit.[56] Einstein may have accepted the invitation to South America for several reasons. The trip itself had “little to add to his scientific work.” Yet the opportunity to visit a new continent, to meet colleagues there, and to further “disseminate the con- cepts of relativity and the most current issues in physics,” was tempting.[57] The