Albert Einstein's letter to Chaim Weizmann, [Berlin], May 1, 1926

Albert Einstein (1879–1955)

Letter to Chaim Weizmann (1874–1952)

[Berlin]: May 1, 1926

This handwritten letter by theoretical physicist Albert Einstein to Chaim Weizmann, leader of the World Zionist Organization, illustrates the instrumental roles both men played in establishing the two major institutions of higher education in Palestine: Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Technikum (later known as the Technion) in Haifa. It also hints at some discord that existed between Einstein and Rabbi Judah Leon Magnes (1877–1948), who was appointed the first chancellor of Hebrew University in 1925. 

In the letter, Einstein praises Magnes’s good intentions in managing the university, but complains to Weizmann about Magnes’s lack of good coordination with the board of trustees and his limited academic expertise. Einstein then emphasizes the importance of the simultaneous development of the Technikum in Haifa, a new college specializing in technical and scientific subjects, which opened its doors to students in 1924. 

Einstein also responds to Weizmann’s earlier inquiry about Simcha Krichewsky-Ezrahi (1883–?), a Ukrainian-born meteorologist and statistician, about the prospect of developing these fields in Palestine.