Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
The impact of 1911 on his career
At Walther Nernst’s request, Ernest Solvay convenes the 1st Conference on Physics. Nernst wanted to bring his heat theorem – a consequence of a quantum result of Albert Einstein (his specific heat formula of 1907) – to the attention of the profession’s elite. Albert Einstein therefore finds himself at the origin of an adventure of which he is the protagonist and the fruits of which he will reap. Indeed, his presence in Brussels has a considerable impact on the development of his academic career.
Albert Einstein will take part (either directly or indirectly) in the Conferences of 1911, 1913, 1921, 1927 and 1930. He will become a member of the Scientific Committee of the IIPS in 1926.
Recommendations sent by Marie Curie and Henri Poincaré to Pierre Weiss soon after the 1st Conference on Physics facilitate his appointment to the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich (ETH) – a sweet revenge, since ETH had refused to offer him a position as an assistant after his studies. In 1913 he is offered a seat at the Academy of Sciences in Berlin at the suggestion of Max Planck, Walther Nernst, Emil Warburg and Heinrich Rubens, the four Berlin members of the 1911 Conference.
His role in the International Solvay Institute for Physics
Albert Einstein joins the Scientific Committee of the International Solvay Institute for Physics in 1926 as the successor of Heike Kamerlingh Onnes. The appointment to the Institute of this civil servant from the German Reich is still a delicate matter at the time. Ernest Solvay having passed away in 1922, the president, Hendrik Lorentz, has no choice but to request an audience with King Albert.
The King approves the choice of Albert Einstein and reacts favourably to the idea of inviting a number of ‘moderate’ Germans to the 1927 Conference.
The Conferences of 1927 and 1930 are the setting for the famous debates between Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr on the status of the quanta theory
Albert Einstein takes part in the 1929 and 1932 meetings in his capacity as a member of the Scientific Committee.
