Albert Einstein moves to Princeton University on this date

Dean Henry Burchard Fine of Princeton University and Albert Einstein in 1921

The Writer's Almanac...

It was on this day in 1933 that Albert Einstein officially moved to the United States to teach at Princeton University. He had been in California working as a visiting professor when Hitler took over as chancellor. His apartment in Berlin and his summer cottage in the country were raided, his papers confiscated, and his bank accounts closed. He returned to Europe and handed in his German passport, renouncing his citizenship. He considered offers from all over the world, including Paris, Turkey, and Oxford. Einstein eventually decided on Princeton, which offered him an attractive package teaching at its Institute for Advanced Study — but he had his hesitations about the university. For one thing, it had a clandestine quota system in place that only allowed a small percentage of the incoming class to be Jewish. The Institute's director, Abraham Flexner, was worried that Einstein would be too directly involved in Jewish refugee causes, so he micromanaged Einstein's public appearances, keeping him out of the public eye when possible. He even declined an invitation for Einstein to see President Roosevelt at the White House without telling the scientist. When Einstein found out, he personally called Eleanor Roosevelt and arranged for a visit anyway, and then complained about the incident in a letter to a rabbi friend of his, giving the return address as "Concentration Camp, Princeton." In 1938, incoming freshmen at Princeton ranked Einstein as the second-greatest living person; first place went to Adolf Hitler. 

Joliot-Curie, Marie Curie's daughter and Einstein on the steps of the Mercer St. house

Albert Einstein House [Wikipedia]

Volume #13 of 30...huge project on Albert Einstein

"Caltech and Princeton University Press Release Thirteenth Volume of Einstein Papers"

September 26th, 2012

by

Kimm Fesenmaier

In the fall of 1922, when Albert Einstein's Nobel Prize in Physics was announced, the already-famous physicist was on a steamer headed for Japan. The detailed and poetic travel diary he kept during his journey to Japan, Palestine, and Spain is among the documents included in the latest volume in the Einstein Papers Project, The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein: Volume 13: The Berlin Years: Writings & Correspondence, January 1922–March 1923 (Documentary Edition), which will be released September 25.

The volume covers a turbulent 15 months in Einstein’s life and includes several hundred previously unpublished and unknown articles and letters, some of which express his desire for "a normal life." The scientist's writings convey a feeling of restlessness and a strong desire to escape the demands of his increased fame and heightened visibility. His diary entries paint a vivid picture of an Einstein who, fearful for his safety following the assassination of his friend the German foreign minister Walter Rathenau, decided to leave his home in Berlin and contemplated leaving academic life entirely, but who thoroughly enjoyed the sights and peoples he encountered for the first time on his six-month long voyage.

"This latest volume is extraordinarily rich, and illuminates in great detail Einstein's scientific work and his exchanges and collaboration with many scientists in Europe, Japan, and the U.S.," says Diana Kormos-Buchwald, the general editor of the series, a professor of history at Caltech, and the director of the Einstein Papers Project. "Most striking is seeing Einstein so thoroughly engaged in numerous professional and political activities while in private worrying about his own safety, given the rather violent atmosphere in Berlin at the time."
 
The volume contains 36 scientific writings by Einstein, including a paper written with Paul Ehrenfest, which anticipates the quantum measurement problem. During this time, Einstein also began investigating the possibilities and restrictions that relativity implied for a unified field theory of the gravitational and electromagnetic fields.

Published beginning in 1987, the first 12 volumes of The Collected Papers cover Einstein's life beginning with his early years up until his 44th birthday. By series' completion, The Collected Papers will comprise nearly 30 volumes and will contain more than 14,000 documents. Sponsored by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Princeton University Press, the project is located at and supported by Caltech.     

Here are links to the previous volumes...

Volume 1. The Early Years, 1879-1902.
Volume 2. The Swiss Years: Writings, 1900-1909.
Volume 3. The Swiss Years: Writings, 1909-1911.
Volume 4. The Swiss Years: Writings, 1912-1914.
Volume 5. The Swiss Years: Correspondence, 1902-1914.
Volume 6. The Berlin Years: Writings, 1914-1917.
Volume 7. The Berlin Years: Writings, 1918-1921.
Volume 8. The Berlin Years: Correspondence, 1914-1918.
Volume 9. The Berlin Years: Correspondence, January 1919 - April 1920.
Volume 10.The Berlin Years: Correspondence, May-December 1920, and Supplementary Correspondence, 1909-1920.
Volume 11. Cumulative Index, Bibliography, List of Correspondence, Chronology, and Errata to Volumes 1-10.
Volume 12. Correspondence, January-December 1921.
Volume 13. The Berlin Years: Writings & Correspondence, January 1922 - March 1923.