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The $5,000,000 Institute (given by two
of the Bamberger family) had already opened three weeks ago, with three
professors, three assistants and 16 students. Organized and directed
by Dr. Abraham Flexner, it is the loftiest-browed of all U. S.
institutions, open only to highly-qualified Ph. D.-possessors. Tuition
costs a mere $100 for the six-month year. Princeton has loaned its new
Henry Burchard Fine Mathematical Hall, a Gothic building one of whose
leaded windows records Einstein's relativity formula and whose
common-room fireplace bears the Einstein adage: "God is clever, but not
malicious." Princeton University and the Institute collaborate as much
as possible, such as in conducting a Mathematics Club and in issuing
the Annals of Mathematics. Some day the Institute will take
political science and economics in its stride. Last year it gave a
seminar under able Professor Oswald Veblen. The principal subjects
studied were: "The relation of generalized projective geometry to
classical projective geometry, projective relativity, the theory of
spinors,* conformal geometry and its relation to unitary field
theory." This year, with the Institute officially opened, the
Veblen seminar's range is to be widened, with Hungarian Professor John
von Neumann as extra teacher. Dr. Einstein will discuss the theory of
spinors and their application to field theory. Dr. Mayer will lead an
advanced seminar. Professor James Waddell Alexander will lecture on
combinatorial analysis situs, hold seminars on the applications of
algebra and group theory to topology.
* Spinor = an equation descriptive of the whirling of a
mass.