To the rescue of a Russian laboratory!
The first action of the International Solvay Institute for Physics is quite remarkable: the Institute allocates an exceptional subsidy of 8,000 Belgian francs (i.e. about 2,118,160 Belgian francs or 52,560 euros in 2017) to the Pyotr Lebedev Laboratory of Moscow.
Pyotr Lebedev dies in March 1912, before the International Scientific Committee has been constituted. Hendrik Lorentz has to wait until August to submit Pyotr Lebedev’s application to the International Scientific Committee. The sum of 8,000 Belgian francs is transferred on 23 August 1912 to his successor, Dr Pyotr Lazarev.
