xDOCS.
427,
428
JANUARY
1913 327
approve
their
availability beyond
this
hour.
In
urgent cases,
this has
to
be
worked
out
with
the
president[2]
of the
School Council.
Respectfully,
The Rector of the
Fed.
Polytechnical
Institute
Th.
Vetter
428.
Fritz
Haber
to
Hugo
Krüss
[Schlosshotel
Enderlin,
Pontresina]
4 January
1913
Very
esteemed Professor
Krüss:[1]
In
a
conversation about the
Ord.
Professor of Theoretical
Physics
at
the
Polytechnical
Institute
in
Zurich,
Dr.
Albert
Einstein,
which
we
had in
the
year
that
just
ended,
you
brought up
the
question
whether there
could
not
be
created
a
position
for
this
extraordinary
man
at
the institute
in
my
charge.[2]
After
having
turned
this
idea
over
in
my
mind
for
quite
some
time,
I have
become
convinced
that the realization of
this
idea
would be
of the
greatest advantage
for
the
Institute,
and
that, from the
personal side,
it
could
probably
be
attempted
with
some
chance
of
success.
Even
though I
did
not
go
so
far
as
to
give
Mr. Einstein
any
hint of
it,
I
did find
out
that,
completely
absorbed
by
his
investigations
as
he
is,
he would
gladly
do
without the
large
course
of lectures that
he
is
obliged
to
give.[3]
Further, I
ascertained that
he has
no
fundamental
misgivings
regarding
Berlin.
It
is
true
that
he declined
an
invitation
to
join
the
Reichsanstalt,[4]
which Mr.
Warburg
extended
to
him
some
time
ago,
but
it
is
precisely
the
reasons
that
led him
to
this decision which
give me
hope
that, in
principle,
he would
not react
negatively
to
an
invitation from
our
Board
of Trustees.[5] I discussed
the idea of
getting
this
man
with
Privy
Councillor
Koppel.[6]
As
you surely
remember,
Director
Schmidt also
took
an
interest
in this
idea. Director
Schmidt
aptly
remarked that
it does not
seem
necessary
to establish
an
institute for
him
because
he
is not
an
experimentalist.[7]
On
the other
hand,
it
is
precisely
this circumstance
that
makes it
easy
to
incorporate
him into
an
existing
institute. Even
a
theoretical
physicist
of
his
orientation
is
in
need of certain
resources
in
order
to
study
experimentally
some
topic
or
other
from time
to time,
or
to
have it
studied
by an
assistant
or
coworker.
I
could
grant
him
the
space
and
the
equipment
for it
on
the
upper
floor of the
Kaiser
Wilhelm
Institute of
Physical
Chemistry
without
thereby impairing
the
normal
work
of
the
Institute.
Mr.
Privy
Counc.
Koppel
was
in
principle ready to request
the
recruiting
of
Einstein.
What decides
the matter for
me
is
the circumstance that
the
development
of theoretical
chemistry,
which since
the
days
of
Helmholtz
successfully
strove to
adopt
and
utilize,
under
van't Hoff's
leadership,
the
achievements of
thermodynamics, has,
in
essence,
attained
this
goal,
and
now
strives
to make radiation
theory
and
electromechanics
serve
its
tasks.[8]
This
fundamental task
can
be
incomparably
advanced
by having
Mr.
Einstein
join
our
institute. It
is
a
very rare
coincidence
that
such
a man
is not
only available,
but that
his
age
(34)
and
personal