einstein

Utrecht. But the matter was not completely settled, because some of Zurich’s education officials objected. They argued that a professor in
theoretical physics was a “luxury,” that there was not enough lab space to accommodate one, and that Einstein personally was not a good teacher.
Heinrich Zangger, a longtime friend who was a medical researcher in Zurich, intervened on Einstein’s behalf. “A proper theoretical physicist is a
necessity these days,” he wrote in a letter to one of the top Swiss councilors. He also pointed out that in such a role Einstein “needs no laboratory.”
As for Einstein’s teaching talents, Zangger provided a wonderfully nuanced and revealing description:
He is not a good teacher for mentally lazy gentlemen who merely want to fill a notebook and then learn it by heart for an exam; he is not a
smooth talker, but anyone wishing to learn honestly how to develop his ideas in physics in an honest way, from deep within, and how to
examine all premises carefully and see the pitfalls and the problems in his reflections, will find Einstein a first-class teacher, because all of this
is expressed in his lectures, which force the audience to think along. 46
Zangger wrote Einstein to express his outrage at the dithering in Zurich, and Einstein replied, “The dear Zurich folks can kiss my . . . [und die
lieben Züricher können mich auch . . . (ellipses are in original letter)].” He told Zangger not to push the matter further. “Leave the Polytechnic* to
God’s inscrutable ways.” 47
Einstein, however, decided not to drop the matter but instead to push the Polytechnic through a light ruse. Officials at the university in Utrecht
were just about to offer their open post to someone else, Peter Debye, when Einstein asked them to hold off. “I am turning to you with a strange
request,” he wrote. The Zurich Polytechnic had initially seemed very eager to recruit him, he said, and it had been proceeding with haste out of fear
that he would go to Utrecht. “But if they were to learn in the near future that Debye is going to Utrecht, they would lose their fervor at once and keep
me forever in suspense. I ask you therefore to wait a little longer with the official offer to Debye.” 48
Rather oddly, Einstein found himself needing letters of recommendation to secure a post at his own alma mater. Marie Curie wrote one. “In
Brussels, where I attended a scientific conference in which Mr. Einstein also participated, I was able to admire the clarity of his intellect, the breadth
of his information, and the profundity of his knowledge,” she noted. 49
Adding to the irony was that his other main letter of recommendation came from Henri Poincaré, the man who had almost come up with the
special theory of relativity but still had not embraced it. Einstein was “one of the most original minds I have ever come across,” he said. Particularly
poignant was his description of Einstein’s willingness, which Poincaré himself lacked, to make radical conceptual leaps: “What I admire in him in
particular is the facility with which he adapts himself to new concepts. He does not remain attached to classical principles, and, when presented
with a problem in physics, is prompt to envision all the possibilities.” Poincaré, however, could not resist asserting, perhaps with relativity in mind,
that Einstein might not be right in all his theories: “Since he seeks in all directions one must expect the majority of the paths on which he embarks to
be blind alleys.” 50
Soon it all worked out. Einstein would move back to Zurich in July 1912. He thanked Zangger for helping him to prevail “against all odds,” and
exulted, “I am enormously happy that we will be together again.” Mari was thrilled as well. She thought that the return could help save both her
sanity and their marriage. Even the children seemed happy to be out of Prague and back to the city of their birth. As Einstein put it in a postcard to
another friend,“Great joy about it among us old folks and the two bear cubs.” 51
His departure caused a minor controversy in Prague. Newspaper articles noted that anti-Semitism at the university may have played a role.
Einstein felt compelled to issue a public statement. “Despite all presumptions,” he said,“I did not feel and did not notice any religious prejudice.”
The appointment of Philipp Frank, a Jew, as his successor, he added, confirmed that “such considerations”were not a major problem. 52
Life in Zurich should have been glorious. The Einsteins were able to afford a modern six-room apartment with grand views. They were reunited
with friends such as Zangger and Grossmann, and there was even one fewer adversary. “The fierce Weber has died, so it will be very pleasant from
a personal point of view,” Einstein wrote of their undergraduate physics professor and nemesis, Heinrich Weber. 53
Once again there were musical gatherings at the home of math professor Adolf Hurwitz. The programs included not only Mozart, Einstein’s
favorite, but also Schumann, who was Mari ’s. On Sunday afternoons, Einstein would arrive with his wife and two little boys at the doorstep and
announce, “Here comes the whole Einstein hen house.”
Despite being back with such friends and diversions, Mari ’s depression continued to deepen, and her health to decline. She developed
rheumatism, which made it hard for her to go out, especially when the streets became icy in winter. She attended the Hurwitz recitals less
frequently, and when she did show up her gloom was increasingly evident. In February 1913, to entice her out, the Hurwitz family planned an all-
Schumann recital. She came, but seemed paralyzed by pain, both mental and physical. 54
Thus the atmosphere was ripe for a catalyst that would disrupt this unstable family situation. It came in the form of a letter. After almost a year of
silence, Elsa Einstein wrote to her cousin.
The previous May, when he had declared that he was writing her “for the last time,” Einstein had nonetheless given her the address of what would
be his new office in Zurich. Now Elsa decided to send him a greeting for his thirty-fourth birthday, and she added a request for a picture of him and
a recommendation of a good book she could read on relativity. She knew how to flatter. 55
“There is no book on relativity that is comprehensible to the layman,” he replied. “But what do you have a relativity cousin for? If you ever happen
to be in Zurich, then we (without my wife, who is unfortunately very jealous) will take a nice walk, and I will tell you about all of those curious things
that I discovered.” Then he went a bit further. Instead of sending a picture, wouldn’t it be better to see each other in person? “If you wish to make me
truly happy, then arrange to spend a few days here sometime.” 56
A few days later, he wrote again, with word that he had instructed a photographer to send her a picture. He had been working on generalizing his
theory of relativity, he reported, and it was exhausting. As he had a year earlier, he complained about being married to Mari : “What I wouldn’t give
to be able to spend a few days with you, but without my cross!” He asked Elsa if she would be in Berlin later that summer. “I would like to come for a
short visit.” 57
It was therefore not surprising that Einstein was very receptive, a few months later, when the two towers of Berlin’s scientific establishment—Max
Planck and Walther Nernst—came to Zurich with an enticing proposal. Having been impressed by Einstein at the Solvay Conference of 1911, they
had already been sounding out colleagues about getting him to Berlin.
The offer they brought with them, when they arrived with their wives on the night train from Berlin on July 11, 1913, had three impressive
components: Einstein would be elected to a coveted vacancy in the Prussian Academy of Sciences, which would come with a hefty stipend; he
would become the director of a new physics institute; and he would be made a professor at the University of Berlin. The package included a lot of
money, and it was not nearly as much work as it may have seemed on the surface. Planck and Nernst made it clear that Einstein would have no
required teaching duties at the university and no real administrative tasks at the institute. And though he would be required to accept German
citizenship once again, he could keep his Swiss citizenship as well.