4-42-40. Felix Klein an H. Poincaré (Konzept)

G.16.VI.0611endnote: 1 Göttingen, 16 June 1906. The manuscript bears an underlined annotation in Klein’s hand: “An Poincaré”.

Verehrter College und Freund !

Ehe ich Ihnen schrieb habe ich nun die Pfingsttage vorübergehen lassen, wo ich Zeit hatte, meine laufende Inanspruchnahme in Ruhe zu übersehen.22endnote: 2 The first Bolyai Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Science was officially awarded to Poincaré on 18 December, 1905. The jury was composed of Gyula König, Gusztáv Rados, Felix Klein, and Gaston Darboux, who presided. When the jury decided to award the Bolyai Prize to Poincaré, on 13 October, 1905, Klein was tasked with writing the report on the works of the two candidates, David Hilbert and Poincaré. Informed by Darboux of the jury’s decision in his favor, Poincaré wrote to Klein to thank him for his support (§ 4-42-39). Poincaré also sent Klein offprints of his papers, sometime around Easter 1906. At some point, Klein decided to forgo writing the report, and so Rados was charged with the task; his report appeared in the April, 1906 issue of the Bulletin des sciences mathématiques (Rados, 1906). A few months after Rados’ report was published, Klein drafted a letter to Poincaré to explain why he did not write the report. The actual letter he sent to Poincaré differed somewhat from the draft, as Poincaré’s response makes clear (§ 4-42-41). The second Bolyai Prize was awarded to Hilbert in 1910, and Poincaré was tasked with writing the report, which he duly delivered; see Poincaré (1911c, 1911b, 1911a, 1911d, 1911e, 1912). Aber ich komme leider zu dem Resultate, dass es für mich ganz unmöglich ist, die ausschliessliche Ruhe zu finden, deren ich bedürfen würde, wenn ich das Gutachten zum Bolyaipreis noch freilich ausarbeiten wollte. Ich bedauere das aufs lebhafteste, aber ich sehe nicht, die wenige Zeit neben dem Unterricht die Energie und zusammenkommenden Unternehmungen mehr wie ich es abändern kann. Ich sende Ihnen also hier beiliegend das Material, welches Sie mir Ostern übergaben mit bestem Dank zurück und bitte Sie, mich in freundlichen Andenken zu halten.33endnote: 3 On the assumption that the material referred to is made up of offprints of Poincaré’s articles, Poincaré would have sent these to Klein in view of his promised report, around Easter of 1905. In any case, Poincaré acknowledged receipt of the return of these materials by letter (§ 4-42-41).

Ich habe leider zu spät bemerkt, dass ich den Zeitpunkt Ihrer [1 illegible word] beschwert unbemerkt verstreichen ließe.44endnote: 4 A corner of the folio is missing, rendering the transcription of this sentence doubtful. Gestatten Sie mir Ihnen und Ihrer Frau Gemahlin.

[signature]

ADftS 2p. Nachlass Klein, Handscriftenabteilung, Niedersächsische Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek, Göttingen.

Time-stamp: "29.05.2026 16:53"

Notes

  • 1 Göttingen, 16 June 1906. The manuscript bears an underlined annotation in Klein’s hand: “An Poincaré”.
  • 2 The first Bolyai Prize of the Hungarian Academy of Science was officially awarded to Poincaré on 18 December, 1905. The jury was composed of Gyula König, Gusztáv Rados, Felix Klein, and Gaston Darboux, who presided. When the jury decided to award the Bolyai Prize to Poincaré, on 13 October, 1905, Klein was tasked with writing the report on the works of the two candidates, David Hilbert and Poincaré. Informed by Darboux of the jury’s decision in his favor, Poincaré wrote to Klein to thank him for his support (§ 4-42-39). Poincaré also sent Klein offprints of his papers, sometime around Easter 1906. At some point, Klein decided to forgo writing the report, and so Rados was charged with the task; his report appeared in the April, 1906 issue of the Bulletin des sciences mathématiques (Rados, 1906). A few months after Rados’ report was published, Klein drafted a letter to Poincaré to explain why he did not write the report. The actual letter he sent to Poincaré differed somewhat from the draft, as Poincaré’s response makes clear (§ 4-42-41). The second Bolyai Prize was awarded to Hilbert in 1910, and Poincaré was tasked with writing the report, which he duly delivered; see Poincaré (1911c, 1911b, 1911a, 1911d, 1911e, 1912).
  • 3 On the assumption that the material referred to is made up of offprints of Poincaré’s articles, Poincaré would have sent these to Klein in view of his promised report, around Easter of 1905. In any case, Poincaré acknowledged receipt of the return of these materials by letter (§ 4-42-41).
  • 4 A corner of the folio is missing, rendering the transcription of this sentence doubtful.

Literatur

  • H. Poincaré (1911a) Prix Bolyai : procès verbal des Séances de la Commission internationale de 1910 (décerné à M. David Hilbert). Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, Budapest. External Links: Link Cited by: endnote 2.
  • H. Poincaré (1911b) Rapport sur le prix Bolyai (décerné à M. David Hilbert). Rendiconti del Circolo matematico di Palermo 31, pp. 109–132. External Links: Link Cited by: endnote 2.
  • H. Poincaré (1911c) Rapport sur le prix Bolyai, 18/10/1910. Bulletin des sciences mathématiques 31, pp. 67–100. External Links: Link Cited by: endnote 2.
  • H. Poincaré (1911d) The Bolyai Prize, I. Science 33 (855), pp. 753–765. External Links: Link Cited by: endnote 2.
  • H. Poincaré (1911e) The Bolyai Prize, II. Science 33 (856), pp. 801–808. External Links: Link Cited by: endnote 2.
  • H. Poincaré (1912) Rapport sur le prix Bolyai. Acta mathematica 35, pp. 2–28. External Links: Link Cited by: endnote 2.
  • G. Rados (1906) Rapport sur le Prix Bolyai. Bulletin des sciences mathématiques 11, pp. 103–128. External Links: Link Cited by: endnote 2.