Science frustrated: the `Einstein Institute' in Madrid

DOI10.1007/S11024-006-9013-ZMaRDI QIDQ857958zbMATH OpenOpenAlexFDO

Authors Thomas F. Glick, José M. Sánchez Ron

Publication date 5 January 2007

Published in Minerva (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-006-9013-z

zbMATH Keywords

Abraham S. YahudaAlbert EinsteinJewish refugees from Germany 1933relativitySpanish Republican Science Policy

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

History of mathematics in the 20th century (01A60) Biographies, obituaries, personalia, bibliographies (01A70) History of mathematics at specific universities (01A73) History of relativity and gravitational theory (83-03)

Review text

The article discusses the failed appointment of Albert Einstein as `Extraordinary' professor for physics in Madrid, which he first accepted in April 1933. Representatives of the young Spanish Republic such as the ambassador to England, R. P. de Ayala, and the linguist of Madrid, A.S. Yahuda tried to harness Einstein's notoriety for their programs. Einstein had accepted too many positions in different countries at the same time, and tried to be released from his appointment in Spain without doing political harm to the then already shaky Spanish democracy. Eventually Einstein did not go to Spain and did not succeed in nominating his student Leopold Infeld in his place either, but some helpful money seems to have been granted during the procedure for the development of Spanish physics. The discussion is mainly based on correspondence between Yahuda and Einstein in the Einstein Papers (Jerusalem) and on newspaper articles, commenting on the affair.

Recommendations

• Einstein's Unpublished Opening Lecture for His Course on Relativity Theory in Argentina, 1925
• Albert Einstein in Berlin 1913--1933. Part I. Presentation and documents
• The collected papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 14. The Berlin years: writings and correspondence, April 1923 -- May 1925. English translation of selected texts. Translated by Ann M. Hentschel and Jennifer Nollar James in consultation with Klaus Hentschel. Edited by Diana Kormos Buchwald, József Illy, Ze'ev Rosenkranz, Tilman Sauer and Osik Moses
• The collected papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 14. The Berlin years: writings and correspondence, April 1923 -- May 1925. Edited by Diana Kormos Buchwald, József Illy, Ze'ev Rosenkranz, Tilman Sauer and Osik Moses
• The collected papers of Albert Einstein. Vol. 12. The Berlin years: Correspondence, January--December 1921. Edited by Diana Kormos Buchwald, Ze'ev Rosenkranz, Tilman Sauer, József Illy, and Virginia Iris Holmes

Cited in

(2)

• Einstein and Don Quixote
• Einstein on the run. How Britain saved the world's greatest scientist

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