Interview with Paul S. Epstein

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Abstract

Memoirs recorded by Paul Sophus Epstein (1883-1966) with his wife, Alice Epstein, late in 1965 and possibly into early 1966. He describes his undergraduate and graduate study in physics at Moscow University, 1901-1909, under P. N. Lebedev, and his move to Munich in early 1910 to begin his doctoral study under A. Sommerfeld. He remembers his professors in Russia: N. V. Bugaev, N. A. Umov, B. Mlodziowski, N. E. Zhukovsky, A. P. Sokolov; his Russian student colleagues T. P. Kravets, A. K. Timiryazev, P. P. Lazarev, and V. K. Arkadiev. He acknowledges P. Ehrenfest's influence in the move to Munich and the change from experimental to theoretical physics, and he recounts aspects of Ehrenfest's early career. Educational practices and social conditions of the turn of the century and early decades of the twentieth century in both Russia and Germany are discussed in detail, including the situation of European Jews and anti-Semitic laws and attitudes. Sommerfeld's scientific background and connections in Königsberg, Göttingen and Aachen are described: mathematicians D. Hilbert, F. Klein, H. Minkowski; the philosopher E. Husserl. Epstein remembers his German professors: C. L. F. Lindemann (mathematics), P. H. von Groth (crystallography), W. C. Röntgen (physics); his Munich student colleagues P. Debye, M. von Laue, A. F. Ioffe, P. P. Koch, P. P. Ewald, and A. Rosenthal; and he recollects important intellectual exchanges at Munich Stammtische. Epstein notes his involvement with avant-garde Munich artists from the Blaue Reiter circle, including P. Klee, W. Kandinsky, F. Marc, and A. von Jawlensky. World War I delays the completion of his studies and creates financial hardship. He recounts leaving Munich for Zurich (1919), where he meets A. Einstein; his Habilitation thesis on the application of the Stark effect to optics creates a stir. He subsequently moves to Leiden to assist Ehrenfest and H. Lorentz (1921). During these years, Epstein marries and divorces Mina (Maria) and develops interest in psychoanalysis; he meets Freud in Switzerland ca. 1920. Epstein meets R. A. Millikan in Leiden, decides to take teaching position at California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. He describes his early period at Caltech and colleagues there (1920s). Epstein ends with an account of Röntgen's career, especially his discovery of X rays; discusses Röntgen's relations with Sommerfeld in Munich.

Available Versions of this Item

• Interview with Paul S. Epstein. (deposited 30 Jan 2004)