Sir, - I refer to "Science and silence in the time of Hitler" by Dr William Reville (August 11th, 1997). As the daughter of Erwin Schrodinger it strikes me as odd that a scientist should adopt such a casual method when treating such a subject as to use Walter Moore's biography of my father as a reference, although I must admit it has happened before. Moore cannot claim to have written a serious biography of my father, although I did my best to supply him with facts. Unfortunately, partly due to his poor command of German and also, because he could not decipher my father's German shorthand, he could not make good use of the material available.
The author of your article, moreover, committed clumsy errors, for instance awarding the 1933 Nobel Prize to Paul Dirac, Werner Heisenberg and Erwin Schrodinger. Doesn't this throw an uncertain light on the rest of his article? The correct answer can be found in any encyclopaedia.
The fact is that my father left Germany in disgust, whereas by being silent he could have stayed comfortably in the prestigious chair which before him was occupied by Max Planck. He spoke out repeatedly as a private citizen, and the well-witnessed clash with storm-troopers is entirely in character with his ways. He did not write a "cringing" letter, but a mocking one, which can only be appreciated by (native) German speakers. It did not appear in all German and Austrian papers but, to my knowledge, only in one, and has since been lost. He wrote it while secretly preparing for his flight.
The reason why he had returned to Austria was the fact that he, as an Austrian, wanted to live in Austria and to teach at an Austrian university after so many postings abroad. What is so peculiar about that?
The moment he chose for his return may show bad political judgement, as he went into a trap. But he shares this with many people who lost their lives, although they could have known better.
Finally, I do agree with the author, that too little opposition against Hitler was demonstrated. But I am disappointed at the cavalier attitude which he takes towards so serious a subject.- Yours, etc.,
Alpbach, Austria.
Dr William Reville writes: I welcome the fact that Mrs Braunizer has placed her reaction to my article on the record. I cannot agree with her that I was either "casual" or "cavalier" in my approach to this subject. While I did draw on Walter Moore's book as a reference, this was not my only source of information.
Paul Dirac and Erwin Schrodinger shared the 1933 Nobel Prize for Physics. Werner Heisenberg was also awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1933, but technically his prize was for the year 1932.
I acknowledged in my article that Schrodinger was disgusted with the Nazis and that he made private remarks to this effect. Because of his feelings, he left his prestigious chair of physics in Berlin.
At a terrible time when the great majority of scientists in Germany stayed silent, Schrodinger did more than most. He did not speak out publicly, but he certainly voted with his feet. Would I have done as much? Speaking publicly would have invited the most serious personal consequences and I cannot condemn him for his public silence. I acknowledged this in my article.