“I think that I would prefer to go to England if possible, to an English university.”
“Well, then,” he said, “you would find that you would have to proceed through the same kind of academic channels that you would here, but it is possible that it would be easier for you than here in Denmark.”
I then plucked up my courage, and said, “Professor Bohr, would it be possible for me to give a talk here at the institute? I have been working on some quantum mechanical interpretations of gravity, using Julian Schwinger’s approach to quantum field theory.”
As we were talking, I had suddenly had the rash thought that if I could give a convincing talk to the physicists at the institute, they might accept me as a promising young physicist and I could perhaps bypass those “usual channels” that Bohr had referred to. During my private studies of physics, I had gone beyond quantum mechanics and learned about quantum field theory, combining quantum mechanics and the special theory of relativity.
Again, Bohr exchanged a glance with Rosenkrantz, who was still busy recording all that we were saying.
“Do you think you are capable of giving such a talk here at the institute?” Bohr asked.
I shifted nervously in my seat and replied brashly, “Yes, I think I am, Professor Bohr.”
“Will you be using Einstein’s unified field theory?” he asked.
“Yes, I think I will, as well as some ideas I have about quantizing his theory,” I responded.
“I’m afraid that you will meet much skepticism,” Bohr said. “Professor Christian Møller, who is our expert here at the institute on gravity, is also skeptical about Einstein’s program, but we can arrange for you to speak to him and see if he can arrange for you to give a seminar.”
Bohr put down his pipe, to join the others in the porcelain dish, and directed Rosenkrantz to arrange a meeting with Møller.
“Also,” Bohr said, addressing me again, “I will speak to Mr. Page at the British consulate and see whether they can help you with possibly pursuing your studies in England.”
Bohr stood up, signalling the end of the interview, and Rosenkrantz and I also rose from our chairs. I shook Professor Bohr’s hand and thanked him for his kindness in having this meeting with me. Rosenkrantz and I left the smoke-filled room together.
*Atoms emit photons when an electron makes a transition from a particular discrete energy level to a higher one, and they absorb photons when changing to a lower energy state. The emissions or absorptions occur as coloured or dark lines, respectively, within the radiation spectrum. These spectral lines are highly specific to different atoms, and can be used to identify elements, for example, in the composition of stars.
*By “quantizing,” I meant that the energy associated with a field such as the electromagnetic or gravitational field must also come in quantum packages of energy. This is accomplished by “quantizing” the classical field theory through the application of the mathematics of quantum mechanics and relativity theory.
TWO WEEKS LATER, I gave my talk in the seminar room on the ground floor of the Niels Bohr Institute, with its pleasant view of the adjoining park. The audience, consisting of Professor Møller and other professors and their students, was hostile, just as Professor Bohr had predicted. They made rude comments to me about Einstein’s unified field theory research and my attempts to defend it. I felt disappointed that Professor Bohr himself had not attended my talk.
Afterwards, Professor Rudolf Haag, who was visiting the institute from Germany, came up to speak to me. He advised me to enter the university and go through a conventional academic training to obtain an undergraduate degree. He agreed that it would be best to do this in a British university. Haag was the one person at the institute that day who showed any interest in my research and my future.
Disturbed by my overall reception at the seminar, I returned home, and with the rashness of youth, I wrote a letter by hand to Albert Einstein, describing the negative reaction of the audience towards his goal of unifying gravity and electromagnetism in one geometrical scheme. I also included the two manuscripts that I had written on his unified field theory. “. . . I have today held a talk on my work with regard to your theory at the Niels Bohr Institute, Copenhagen,” I wrote, “and there found only complete misunderstanding. In fact, it appeared that the main purpose was to undermine my personal confidence as to my ability. I would be eternally indebted if you could find time to read my work, and should you find yourself satisfied with my interpretation, mathematical ability, and conceptions, that you return same to me with your opinion . . . I found the Personel [sic] at the Bohr Institute completely without the fundamental knowledge necessary for the understanding of your Theory of Generalized Gravitation, and need I state how great a disappointment this was to me.
“Moreover,” I continued helpfully, “I found the attitude of the persons concerned contrary to all aesthetic feeling and conceptions, and I feel that you should become aware of what is really going in the opposite camp.”
I posted the letter, along with my two manuscripts, one of which pointed out a potential problem in his unified field theory, to Einstein at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton University, New Jersey. My manuscripts were titled “Theory of Quantized Unified Fields” and “On Unified Field Theory and the Equations of Motion.”
The year was 1953. I never expected a response. It had been a valuable learning experience for me just to write the papers and to give the seminar. Why would I anticipate that Einstein would have time, great physicist that he was, to read and respond to my letter and manuscripts? Perhaps he would be offended that an unknown, unschooled young man in Copenhagen dared to criticize his published theory.
Three weeks later, an airmail letter with U. S. stamps arrived for me at my parents’ apartment. The return address was Einstein’s home at 112 Mercer Street, Princeton, New Jersey. Even then, in my excitement, I reflected on the fact that Einstein did not use the Institute for Advanced Study as his official address. I tore open the envelope and found that Einstein had written back to me in his own handwriting! He had also included a reprint of the appendix to his latest edition of The Meaning of Relativity, which I had not yet read. The book I had borrowed from the university library was an earlier edition.
But unfortunately, Einstein’s handwritten letter was in German, and my German from two years of study in two different Danish schools was not up to the task of understanding it.
I immediately thought of my barber, Hans Busch, who was of German extraction. I rushed down the street on that warm June afternoon and burst into Hans’s shop shouting, “I just received a letter from Albert Einstein in America! It’s written in German. Can you please help me translate it?”
It was midmorning, a busy time in the small shop, and the men sitting and waiting for their haircuts stared at me in astonishment. The barber looked at me, his scissors clipping at a customer’s hair, and said, “Just a minute, John. I need to finish with this gentleman.”
I curbed my impatience and sat down to wait, feeling exhilarated. Finally, Hans Busch’s elderly client rose from the barber chair,
