6-1-435. Herr Jordan à H. Poincaré

Wilmersdorf, Ringbahnstr. 19, 14.10.1910

Monsieur !

Où est la politesse française ? Est-ce permis de faire venir mille personnes et après l’arrivée les désappointer? Et pourquoi? À cause d’une maladie? Où d’un accident? Oh non! en vérité à cause d’une invitation à la cour royale! Ce n’est pas une excuse suffisante, car un devoir est plus important qu’une invitation.

Agréez, monsieur, l’expression de mon indignation profonde

Jordan

conseiller au tribunal de Berlin

ALS 2p. Collection particulière, Paris 75017.

Time-stamp: "14.10.2020 19:13"

Notes

• 1 Herr Jordan is upset. The centennial celebration of the foundation of the University of Berlin was held from 10 to 13 October, 1910. On 11 October, the Brandenburg Academy voted to present Poincaré for membership in the Order “Pour le mérite”, replacing Giovanni Schiaparelli (Archives BBAW Historische Abteilung II-X, 17, Orden Pour le mérite). The same day, Poincaré was given a commemorative medal by the Minister for Religion, Education and Health (§ 6-1-2058). On the 12th, 13th, and 14th of October the Berliner Mathematische Gesellschaft scheduled Poincaré to give talks. On the 12th, he spoke on algebraic surfaces (Poincaré 1911b; Jahresbericht der deutschen Mathematiker-Vereinigung 19, 1910, 225). On the 13th, Poincaré was scheduled to deliver a lecture on Hertzian waves, but instead attended a dinner at the Royal Palace with the Kaiser and a number of princesses, prompting this rather angry letter from Jordan. Poincaré’s lecture was subsequently published in German, and no mention was made of his failure to deliver the scheduled talk (Poincaré, 1911c). On the 14th of October, Poincaré delivered a lecture on “La mécanique nouvelle”, which was translated to German by Paul Schwahn and published both in Himmel und Erde (Poincaré, 1910), and as a pamphlet (Poincaré, 1911a).