3 3 4 D O C U M E N T 2 3 9 D E C E M B E R 1 9 1 9
bisherigen Arbeiten und seine große Kraft im “Durchrechnen” ihm doch wirklich
alles Recht auf warme Unterstützung von unserer Seite
geben.[9]
— Wie steht’s mit
der Hamburg Professur für Theor.
Physik?[10]
— • —
Bei meinen Bemühungen hier würde es mir angenehm sein über eine Äußerung
Deinerseits über Epsteins Leistung und über seine Kraft beschicken zu können.
— • —
— • —
— • —
Sei sehr, sehr innig von der ganzen Bande Ehrenfest gegrüsst. Wir wünschen Dir
ein gutes neues Jahr zu! Dein
Ehrenfest
Hast Du meine erste Geldsendung erhalten? Kann ich Dir den Rest direct sen-
den?[11]
ALS. [9 461].
[1]Six days earlier, Einstein had mentioned that a conference on the planned Jewish university in
Jerusalem would not take place (see Doc. 233).
[2]In Doc. 224, Ehrenfest had mentioned that he would write to Einstein once he had discussed the
issue of the university with Leonard Ornstein.
[3]In the aftermath of World War I, the dismal economic and sanitary conditions in Palestine, espe-
cially in Jerusalem, induced some of the Zionist Organisation’s leaders, particularly Chaim Weiz-
mann, to advocate a greater sense of urgency in establishing the planned faculty of medicine at the
Hebrew University (see Barzilay and Litvinoff 1977, pp. xxi–xxii, and Lavsky 2000, pp. 124–125).
On the need to establish research institutes at the Hebrew University prior to enabling instruction, see
Doc. 102, note 1.
[4]For details of the Zionist Organisation’s official plans for the establishment of the Hebrew Uni-
versity, see Doc. 122, note 2, Doc. 136, note 5, and Doc. 171.
[5]The École Polytechnique was founded in Paris in 1794 by French mathematician Gaspard
Monge (1746–1818) and French engineer Lazare Carnot (1753–1823). Its mission was to provide its
students with a strong scientific and engineering background and to train them as high civil servants.
François Arago (1786–1853) was Professor of Analytical Geometry at the École polytechnique. The
Institut Pasteur was established by decree in 1887 in order to enable Louis Pasteur (1822–1895) to
expand the development of vaccinations against rabies, to develop the study of infectious diseases,
and to disseminate Pasteur’s knowledge.
The square brackets are in the original.
[6]Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer (1881–1966) was Professor of Mathematics at the University of
Amsterdam.
[7]At this point in the original text Ehrenfest inserts three vertical lines to the left of the text and
indicates a note he has appended at the foot of the page: “Besonders vor Lorentz würde ich mich
schrecklich schämen!!!!!”
[8]For background on Paul Epstein’s professional problems, see Doc. 5, note 9, and specifically on
his financial problems, Doc. 102. As a Privatdozent in physics at the University of Zurich, he was
offering a course on electron theory with an accompanying hour of laboratory work offered gratis dur-
ing the winter term 1919/20 (see Zürich Verzeichnis 1919, p. 23).
[9]For a list of Epstein’s publications until 1919, see NAS Biographical Memoirs 1974, pp. 146–
148. Many of these publications are on applications of quantum theory.
[10]On the possibility of Epstein taking a position at the University of Hamburg, see Peter P. Koch
to Paul Epstein, 26 December 1919, SzZSa, U 110 b.3(70), and Doc. 150. For a historical account of
the hiring process for this position in Hamburg, see Reich 2000.
[11]As partial repayment for Einstein’s purchase of a piano and two violins on Ehrenfest’s behalf
(see Doc. 224).