Chapter 57 second quarter

In mid-November 1922, Einstein visited Japan and stopped briefly in Shanghai.On the day he arrived in Shanghai, on November 13, he received the official notification of winning the Nobel Prize in Physics that year. The next day, on November 14, Cai Yuanpei published a statement titled "Preparation for Dr. Ainstein (Einstein) to Come to China" in the "Peking University Journal" and announced: After many contacts, Einstein will come to Peking University at the beginning of the new year Lecture!Upon hearing the news, the teachers and students burst into joy. Einstein, a scientific superstar, seems to have such a relationship with China.

At that time, China's natural science was extremely backward, and the teachers and students of Peking University hoped to have the world's first-class scientists to give lectures at the school; but most of them didn't know who the first-class scientists were. From 1920 to 1921, the great British philosopher Russell gave a lecture on philosophy at Peking University. During this period, Russell repeatedly said: "To talk about the greatest figures in modern times, there are only two, one is Lenin and the other is Einstein. "Comparing Einstein with Lenin, this deafening lecture made the Chinese intellectuals "everyone knows the theory of relativity since Russell gave the lecture."Einstein has become a legendary name in Chinese academic circles.

In 1920, Cai Yuanpei came into contact with Einstein.The former vice-minister of the Ministry of Education, who was visiting Germany at the time, called Cai Yuanpei, saying that Einstein intended to come to China to give lectures, would Peking University accept him?Cai Yuanpei immediately called back to express his welcome.But later, because Einstein "couldn't leave Germany for a while", he couldn't make the trip. Cai Yuanpei visited Europe and the United States in March 1921. Before leaving, he told the students that he must invite famous professors from Europe and America to teach or give lectures at Peking University this time.Einstein was at the top of the invitation list.

After arriving in Germany, Cai Yuanpei, together with Xia Fuyun and Lin Zaiping, made a special trip to meet Einstein to express his sincere invitation.Einstein replied that he was very willing to visit China, but he was currently going to the United States to raise funds for the Jewish University; on his way back, he had to give short-term lectures in England and the Netherlands, and he was the director of the Institute of Physics at the time, so it was inconvenient to leave Germany for a long time , I hope to "hope for another day" to give lectures at Peking University. In this conversation, Einstein also asked what language to use for lectures at Peking University. Cai Yuanpei immediately replied: German can be used, and Xia Fuyun can translate.

A year later, there was news from Einstein.In March of this year, the Minister of the Republic of China in Germany called Cai Yuanpei: "The Japanese government intends to invite Dr. Einstein (Einstein) to give lectures in the east in autumn. The doctor is willing to give lectures in China for half a month at the same time. What are the conditions?" The opportunity was perfect, and Cai Yuanpei was very happy. He immediately responded by sending a telegram to express his welcome. In terms of treatment conditions, he proposed to fully cover Einstein's travel expenses in China, "and send a monthly remuneration of 1,000 yuan."At that time, the monthly salary of the biggest professor in China was about 400 yuan.

Soon after, Professor Zhu Jiahua of Peking University in Germany forwarded Einstein's reply.The letter was somewhat vague after being translated by Gu Mengyu. Einstein said: "Japan has invited me to go, and the reward is abundant.... If I go to Beijing for another two weeks, it will be commensurate with this." The reward offered by Japan is very high, and I hope China agrees with it, which seems to mean that the conditions given by Cai Yuanpei are too low.He also said: "In terms of rights, it is true that you dated me first, but the Japanese first put forward favorable conditions (I and my wife will be paid another 2,000 pounds in addition to the living expenses), and it seems that they also have a priority right." It was China who invited him first, so he should come to China first, but because of the favorable conditions offered by Japan, he may have to go to Japan first.

In the letter, Einstein also said: "I hope that the two of us can reach a satisfactory agreement, and watch with our own eyes the birthplace of East Asian civilization..." This reply indicated that he also wanted to come to China very much, but he had some opinions on the remuneration and hoped to conclude another agreement.Cai Yuanpei did not give a clear answer to this question, whether it was due to ignorance of Einstein's intentions or other considerations. In late June, the embassy in Germany forwarded another letter from Einstein.The letter once again expressed his willingness to come to China to give lectures, and explained why he was concerned about salary: "As for the first level of Xiujin, it could have been handled in accordance with the provisions of the letter. It is above your country. If you do not modify the various items in the letter, it may be inconvenient." That is to say, the prices offered by universities in American countries are higher than those in China. Hard to say.

This time, he clarified the conditions that should be met: "First, change the one thousand Chinese currency to one thousand U.S. dollars. Second, the travel expenses from Tokyo to Beijing, and from Beijing to Hong Kong, as well as the hotel expenses in Beijing, should be totaled by two persons." Einstein's annual salary was 40,000 marks at that time, more than 3,000 marks per month, and from the second half of 1922, the German mark depreciated sharply.So, for a salary of $1,000 a month, this requirement is quite high. Cai Yuanpei immediately discussed with Liang Qichao after receiving the letter.Liang Qichao made great efforts to promote Einstein to come to China, and decided that half of the salary should be borne by his lecture club.So Cai Yuanpei said to our embassy in Germany: "The conditions will be complied with, please make it on your behalf." In August, my minister in Germany wrote that they had notified Einstein of the above opinions, and the other party clearly expressed their willingness to "come to China in the New Year." .

Now, when Einstein won the Nobel Prize, he happened to pass by Shanghai. Cai Yuanpei announced that he was coming to Peking University to give lectures. People thought that Einstein "will come to Beijing soon."Everyone was very excited to witness the greatest scientist since Newton. In order to welcome the upcoming Einstein, Peking University held a series of lectures on the theory of relativity, including Ding Xilin's "Mechanics Before The Theory of Relativity", He Yujie's "Relativity", Gao Lu's "Old Concepts of Time and Space" , "Einstein's Life and Theory" by Xia Yuan, "Non-Euclidean Geometry" by Wang Renfu, "General Theory of Relativity" by Wen Yuanmo, and "Relativity and Philosophy" by Zhang Jingsheng.These keynote speakers were all top scholars in China at that time.

According to the agreement, Einstein will come to China in mid-December. However, Einstein did not arrive in Shanghai from Japan until December 30. After arriving in Shanghai, the itinerary surprised the waiters: he did not go north to Beijing, but in Shanghai. Stayed for two days, and then went to Singapore by boat. The agreement to give lectures at Peking University was broken! The most depressed person at this time was Cai Yuanpei.He couldn't wait for Einstein's news, so he wrote a sincere letter to urge him to ask, and reiterated the previously negotiated conditions.Einstein's reply made him even more puzzled: it said that there was a man named Dr. Fister in Shanghai, who seemed to have been entrusted by Cai Yuanpei with carte blanche, and asked Einstein to violate the previous agreement. Ready to come.Now that he received Cai Yuanpei's personal letter, he realized that it was a misunderstanding, but now he can no longer change the itinerary plan, and I hope to forgive him.

So far, Cai Yuanpei has no choice but to accept it with regret.He openly said to his colleagues that because of Einstein's upcoming visit, there has been a wave of "relativity theory fever" in Chinese academic circles, and this difficult knowledge has been understood by many people, which in itself is a harvest. In order to give an explanation to the hopeless students, he published the "Postscript to Einstein's Letter" in the "Peking University Journal" on January 4, 1923, and attached the original letter, explaining that the matter was not well organized.He said in his postscript: First, Einstein planned to visit at the beginning of this year, and he contacted him through the embassy in Germany, so there was no "necessity for a special appointment"; second, the letter mentioned "Dr. ", "It's something I didn't know, and I was very surprised after reading it"; third, Einstein's presence is "tens of hundreds of times more important than any well-known politician and military strategist", so we went out every day A monthly remuneration of 1,000 U.S. dollars, unexpectedly, the final plan still fell through. More than 80 years later, people bring up this regrettable old incident again, thinking that this inexplicable "Dr. Fester" is probably caused by someone in Japan; In order to withdraw - at that time, the Chinese warlords were fighting and financial difficulties. The education funds of Beijing schools had not been distributed normally for five months. Cai Yuanpei also cooperated with other school principals to ask for it from the Beiyang government.When Einstein heard about this situation, he felt that it was uncertain whether Peking University could fulfill the agreement.He went to Peking University to give lectures, but turned down invitations from several universities in the United States. If he traveled a long distance and couldn't even guarantee the travel expenses in the end, he might as well not come. Cai Yuanpei showed kindness and generosity in this matter, and he did not express any complaints against Einstein.In "Letters from Einstein", he said to teachers and students: "When we make scientific contributions and attract the attention of the world, I believe Einstein will make a special trip to visit. Therefore, please do not Depressed, but should encourage each other." In the whole process of dealing with Einstein, Cai Yuanpei showed the sincerity of an educator and the demeanor of a gentleman, which is admirable.