4-44-40. Felix Klein an H. Poincaré

G.16.VI.0611endnote: 1 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 April 1905 (Lebon, 1912, 19). The jury was composed of Jules König, Gustave Rados, Felix Klein, and Gaston Darboux, who presided. When the jury decided to award the Bolyai Prize to Poincaré, on 13 October 1901, 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 (§ 4-44-38). At some point, Klein decided to forgo the task, and so Rados was charged with writing the report, which appeared in the April issue of the Bulletin des sciences mathématiques (Rados, 1906). A few months later, Klein drafted a letter to Poincaré to explain his failure to write the report. The actual letter sent to Poincaré differed somewhat from the draft, as Poincaré’s response makes clear (§ 4-44-41). 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, 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. Ich habe leider zu spät bemerkt, dass ich den Zeitpunkt Ihrer [2 mots illisibles] unbeantwortet verstreichen ließ.

[1 mot illisible] Sie mir Ihnen und Ihrer Frau Gemahlin.

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

Time-stamp: "8.08.2022 17:49"

Notes

  • 1 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 April 1905 (Lebon, 1912, 19). The jury was composed of Jules König, Gustave Rados, Felix Klein, and Gaston Darboux, who presided. When the jury decided to award the Bolyai Prize to Poincaré, on 13 October 1901, 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 (§ 4-44-38). At some point, Klein decided to forgo the task, and so Rados was charged with writing the report, which appeared in the April issue of the Bulletin des sciences mathématiques (Rados, 1906). A few months later, Klein drafted a letter to Poincaré to explain his failure to write the report. The actual letter sent to Poincaré differed somewhat from the draft, as Poincaré’s response makes clear (§ 4-44-41). 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, 1912).

Literatur

  • E. Lebon (1912) Henri Poincaré : Biographie, bibliographie analytique des écrits. Gauthier-Villars, Paris. link1 Cited by: endnote 2.
  • H. Poincaré (1911a) Prix Bolyai : procès verbal des Séances de la Commission internationale de 1910 (décerné à M. David Hilbert). Magyar Tudományos Akadémia, Budapest. link1 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. link1 Cited by: endnote 2.
  • H. Poincaré (1911c) Rapport sur le prix Bolyai, 18/10/1910. Bulletin des sciences mathématiques 31, pp. 67–100. link1 Cited by: endnote 2.
  • H. Poincaré (1911d) The Bolyai Prize: report on the works of Hilbert. Science 33 (855), pp. 753–765. Cited by: endnote 2.
  • H. Poincaré (1912) Rapport sur le prix Bolyai. Acta mathematica 35, pp. 2–28. link1 Cited by: endnote 2.
  • G. Rados (1906) Rapport sur le Prix Bolyai. Bulletin des sciences mathématiques 11, pp. 103–128. link1 Cited by: endnote 2.