Annals by Glenn C. Altschuler The convictions of Peter Debye At the time of his death in 1966, Peter University of Göttingen, and the Uni- Debye was internationally renowned for versity of Leipzig, Debye (in effect) re- his work on molecular structure, espe- placed Albert Einstein as director of the cially dipole moments (the interaction Kaiser Wilhelm (now Max Planck) Insti- of a collection of charged particles with tute for Physics in Berlin in 1934, serving an electrical ½eld) and the diffraction of until 1939. From 1937–1939, he was also X-rays and electrons in gases. For this president of the German Physical Soci- work, he won the Nobel Prize in Chem- ety. istry in 1936. His name, Debye, is still In 1939, he left his German positions used as the unit of measurement of a and shortly afterwards emigrated to dipole moment. the United States, to join the faculty of Born in Maastricht in 1884, Debye Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, was educated at the Aachen Institute where he taught until 1952. By the time of Technology and Munich University, he retired, he had become a colleague where he received his Ph.D. in physics respected by many on the Cornell cam- in 1908. Following appointments at Zu- pus, and a mentor to a number of young rich University, Utrecht University, the chemists, many of them now prominent in their ½elds. He was also a Foreign Glenn C. Altschuler is the Thomas and Dorothy Honorary Member of the American Litwin Professor of American Studies at Cornell Academy of Arts & Sciences, elected in University. He has published eight books, includ- 1927. ing “Race, Ethnicity, and Class in American So- Given Debye’s reputation, the pub- cial Thought, 1865–1919” (1982), “Rude Re- lication in January 2006 of Einstein in public: Americans and Their Politics in the Nine- Nederland, by science writer Sybe Izaak teenth Century” (with Stuart M. Blumin, 2000), Rispens, came as a shock to academic and “All Shook Up: How Rock ’n’ Roll Changed communities on both sides of the Atlan- America” (2003). He is currently working on tic Ocean. two books: a history of Cornell University, 1945– In Chapter Five of the book–and in present (with Isaac Kramnick), and a history of newspaper articles he wrote to promote the G.I. Bill of Rights (with Stuart M. Blumin). it–Rispens charged that Peter Debye, “one of the greatest Dutch scientists of © 2006 by the American Academy of Arts the twentieth century,” had contributed & Sciences to “Hitler’s most important military re- 96 Dædalus Fall 2006 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/daed.2006.135.4.96 by guest on 01 October 2021 search program.” Acknowledging that “about what people in power expected The con- Debye was not a member of the Nazi of him.”3 Following the Kristallnacht victions of Peter Debye Party, Rispens branded him an “extreme pogrom against German Jews on No- opportunist” and “willing helper of the vember 9 and 10, 1938, he came under regime” whose “hands are dirtier than is pressure to make the German Physical commonly assumed.”1 Society conform to Nazi ideology and Rispens focused much of his attention practices by excluding all non-Aryan on Debye’s activities in Berlin. Support- members. Debye might have resigned ed by a grant from the Rockefeller Foun- from the organization in protest, as the dation (made before the Nazis came to Dutch-born physicist Samuel Goudsmit power), the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute had in 1937. Or protested to the Minis- boasted state-of-the-art research facili- try of Education and Culture. Instead, ties and a staff of ½rst-rate scientists. in December, he wrote to members of According to Rispens, Hermann Goer- the society: “Under the compelling ing, the second most powerful man in overarching circumstances the abiding the Third Reich, made sure Debye got of Reich-German Jews in the German all the resources he needed, especially Physical Society can no longer be main- after physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz tained in the sense of the Nuremberg Strassman discovered that a ‘½ssion’ Laws. In agreement with the Executive bomb could release virtually unlimited Committee I request all members who energy. Debye received a large salary, fall under this regulation to communi- which reached 40,000 marks in 1939, cate to me their withdrawal from the and a house in Berlin-Dahlem, where Society. Heil Hitler!” Debye’s letter may he lived with his German-born wife, well have been “half-hearted,” Rispens Mathilde Alberer, and their two chil- writes, but it was “nonetheless effective dren.2 Aryan cleansing,” with about 10 percent Debye retained his Dutch passport of the society’s members excluded. And throughout the 1930s, Rispens asserts, Debye, Rispens notes, often used the because he believed that with the Na- odious closing salutation, “Heil Hitler!” zis in power a German citizen was less in his of½cial correspondence.4 likely to become a Nobel Laureate. Al- After Germany invaded Poland in Sep- though he declined to formalize his tember 1939, the Nazis brought the Kai- German citizenship, he told physicist ser Wilhelm Institute directly under the Max Planck that he was nonetheless a control of the war ministry. To remain sturdy German nationalist. Debye made as director, Debye was told he must be- repeated inquiries, Rispens emphasizes, come a German citizen. Intent on keep- ing “all options open,” Debye negotiat- ed a leave of absence. Perhaps, Rispens 1 Sybe I. Rispens, Einstein in Nederland: Een In- tellectuelle Biogra½e (Amsterdam: Ambo, 2006), speculates, he thought he might be able 159–184; Sybe I. Rispens, “Nobelprijswinnaar to return in six months, after the Ger- met vuile handen,” Vrij Nederland, January 21, mans conquered Europe with their blitz- 2006. (Translations from the Dutch by Martij- krieg. In any event, the decision hinged na Briggs, Piet Brouwer, and my dear friend Ben Widom, who also commented incisively on this essay.) 3 Rispens, Einstein in Nederland, 175; Rispens, “Nobelprijswinnaar.” 2 Rispens, Einstein in Nederland, 176; Rispens, “Nobelprijswinnaar.” 4 Rispens, Einstein in Nederland, 180. Dædalus Fall 2006 97 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/daed.2006.135.4.96 by guest on 01 October 2021 Annals by “least of all on his aversion to the Nazi for an answer to his repeated question, Glenn C. 7 Altschuler regime.” And although he did not return if and when he can return . ” as director, Debye remained on the pay- Rispens’s case against Debye produced roll of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute until a ½restorm in the Netherlands, which, 1943.5 of course, was especially sensitive to the Debye left Germany in January 1940, behavior of its citizens during World having accepted an invitation to deliver War II. In February, the universities at the Baker Lectures in Chemistry at Cor- Maastricht and Utrecht took action. nell University in Ithaca, New York. Maastricht announced it would no lon- When Einstein learned that Debye was ger award a Peter Debye Prize and asked headed to Cornell, Rispens suggests, “he the sponsor, the Edmond Hustinx Foun- did something he had not done before.” dation, for permission to confer it under Instead of arranging employment, as he a different name. Utrecht deleted De- had for dozens of European refugees, bye’s name from its Institute of Physics Einstein wrote a letter to J. G. Kirkwood, and Chemistry of Nanomaterials and chairman of the chemistry department, Interfaces. and Cornell President Edmund Ezra In press releases, both universities ex- Day, which “opened up Debye’s baptis- plained that the action followed veri½- mal record.” A “reliable source,” Ein- cation of Rispens’s sources (though not stein indicated, had revealed that Debye his judgments) by the prestigious Neth- “maintained close contacts” with the erlands Institute for War Documenta- Nazis. Einstein asked Cornell’s scientists tion. Although the administration at to do “their duty as American citizens.” Maastricht agreed that “there has been In the end, Rispens notes, “Cornell did insuf½cient research to paint a full pic- not act against Debye,” who received his ture of Debye in Nazi Germany,” of½- tenured appointment, became chairman cials were convinced that Debye “in- of the department, and retired in 1952 as suf½ciently resisted the limitations on emeritus professor.6 academic freedom.” His behavior was Nonetheless, even as the German “dif½cult to reconcile with the example armies “trampled over half of Europe,” function connected to the naming of a Rispens concludes, Debye still “longed scienti½c prize.” Ludo Koks, a spokes- for his research institute.” On June 23, man for Utrecht, agreed that Debye 1941, long after the invasion and occu- may have been forced to expel Jews pation of the Netherlands, Debye sent from the German Physical Society. Re- a telegram to the General Consulate in moving his name, he noted, “had quite Berlin, declaring that he was “always an emotional impact,” generating de- ready and willing to take upon myself bate about whether Debye should be again, on the basis of the old conditions, disgraced without more de½nitive in- the directorship of the Kaiser Wilhelm formation. But “we had to make a deci- Institute.” For some reason, the tele- sion . When an institute is named af- gram “remained unnoticed” and Debye ter someone, this person has to have the “waited in vain until the end of the war highest reputation.”8 7 Rispens, Einstein in Nederland, 183–184. 5 Ibid., 181; Rispens, “Nobelprijswinnaar.” 8 Links to the press releases can be found at 6 Rispens, Einstein in Nederland, 182–183; http://www.deye.uu.nl/.