Part 1 - The Institute Libraries - Institute for Advanced Study

FZexner perhaps appreciated; he noted the sharp mind, the assurance of
academic authcrity; the distaste for the power of money in educational
institutions. But it was not the nephew's uzy to revolt openly or to
indulge his rancor unwisely. His genius was to have his way. and not
to lezve or be forced from the 52eld of battle, This must, if Flexner
realized it, have established some bond between them, for that was h f~
way, too. %%la Thorstein roamed from one unfversity to another, having
exhausted the founts successively, Oswald, with the sam passions seeth-
ing in him, played to win on the field vkre he was. After twenty-one
years of fierce but restrained anger with the Princeton Txustees and the
traditionalist alumni he wes appointed Fine Professor of Nethmtical
Research in 1926, the most coveted .chair vithin the gift of the Trustees
in his field.
According to the Director's memires, he met Dr. Albert Einstein
quite fortuitously at the very end of his fortnight's visit to the Cali-
fornia Institute of Technology, the sfngle institution vhfch had gfven
h4m the courage of Tts example since 1922, The Institute, small end
lofty, had dgr,cnstrated that the true seeker after scientific kncrultdge
vould cross.the Continent to study under its small but illustrious fac-
ulty in the sciences. Dr. Einstein was spending his second vintex work-
ing with the physicksts at Pasadena and the astronomers at Ht. Wilson.
The meeting took place as pollticzl and economic ruin faced the German
Republic, and though Flexnet said they discussed the Institute for Ad-
vanced Study alone, it is daubtful tbt the significance of the ph~sicistns
presence in the Ihited States was not recognized as beingrelated to what
- was going on overseas. -When rhey parted, it was with the understandfng