The 1911 Solvay Conference on The Theory of Radiation and the Quanta
This famous picture shows the attendees at the first Solvay Conference on physics held at the Hotel Metropole in Brussels in October 1911. Seated on the right side of the table and talking with each other are Henri Poincaré and Marie Curie. At about the time of this picture, Marie Curie was informed she had won a second Nobel Prize. To her right and in a similar posture is Jean Perrin: he had already done his work on Brownian motion for which he would later win the Nobel Prize. Paul Langevin is standing on the far right and Marcel Brillouin is at the left corner of the table. These are the leading figures of the French attendees at the conference. Albert Einstein is standing next to Paul Langevin, and Hendrik Lorentz is sitting at the head of the table next to the head (pasted in since he wasn’t present for the photo session) of Ernest Solvay, the Belgian industrialist and sponsor of the conference. In addition to the people already mentioned, four others had won or would win Nobel Prizes: a total of at least eight laureates (about a third of the attendees).
Much has been written about the conference in the primary literature (e.g. conference proceedings, Einstein’s letters, papers by Poincaré on the theory of quanta published shortly after the conference, reviews of the conference published by attendees) and secondary literature (e.g. reviews of the scientific content of the presentations, history of the founding and early years of the International Solvay Institute).
I have been actively researching and writing a book about the first Solvay Conference and the participants for over a year now. (I have published two previous books.) The tentative title of this book is The First Solvay Conference: A Community Faces Quantum Theory. I expect this full research and writing project to take about three or four years until I have a book manuscript ready for the publisher. (I have signed a publishing contract for this book with SpringerNature.)
The First Solvay Conference was a decisive turning point because it resulted in the acceptance that the issues and challenges raised by a theory of quanta did merit further effort and were worth addressing thus setting the direction for physics for the following 25 to 50 years.
What happened at the conference that resulted in such impact? In a word, science. The practice of science is deeply tied to community acceptance of new paradigms and to the scientists involved. My book explores what made that acceptance of quanta and of research toward quantum theory possible; beyond the content of the papers, it looks at the discussion, interactions, influences and ideas of the participants before, during and after the conference. This exploration emphasizes the development of the participants’ attitude to the theory of quanta (both those who influenced and who were influenced), and also on the personal and social interactions between colleagues, especially Marie Curie, Paul Langevin, Jean Perrin, Henri Poincaré and Albert Einstein. These interactions involve both their personal dynamics and intrigue, and also their implication and involvement in polarizing social issues of their time: pseudoscience, misogyny, xenophobia, nationalism and the Dreyfus affair.
Einstein at the 1911 Solvay Conference
Einstein did not look forward positively to the Conference. In October 1911, in a letter to his close friend Michele Besso (for the letter see the Einstein papers where it is letter 296) Einstein refers to an upcoming meeting of physicists in Brussels as „wenn auch noch der Hexensabbat in Brüssel vorbei ist“. It appears he was expecting a witch’s brew of participants.
After the conference, Einstein wrote again to Michele Besso (letter 303 from the same source) and recalled, “I returned last night from Brussels, where I spent much time with Perrin, Langevin and Madame Curie, and became quite enchanted with these people. The latter even promised to come visit us with her daughters.” He enjoyed the social life at the conference.
Poincaré at the 1911 Solvay Conference
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National Geographic Genius: Einstein at the Solvay Conference
In Episode 5 of the National Geographic TV production Genius: Einstein at the 22:10 mark, we see Einstein engaged in small talk over the title “Solvay Conference, Brussels, 1911.” He and Arnold Sommerfeld notice Marie Curie entering the room and establish that she is the only woman at the conference. At 22:31 Sommerfeld tells Einstein, “Haven’t you heard? She’s been cavorting around Paris with a married man.” and 15 seconds later adds, “Poincaré thinks she should be asked to leave the Conference.”
At the 39:17 time mark, Marie Curie admits to Einstein that she was having an affair with Paul Langevin, who was also at the conference. The affair—her husband, Paul Curie, had died over 5 years earlier, and Langevin was married with four children—did cause a scandal in the Paris press right after the conference. Would anyone at the First Solvay Conference have criticized Marie Curie over it? That is hard to say. The series seems to use the scene to establish a later conversation between Marie Curie and Mileva Einstein with potential for comparing and contrasting the two couples.
Would Poincaré have suggested that Curie should leave the Conference? Certainly not! Although he didn’t get involved personally (as far as we know), his brother-in-law and cousin were both involved in responding to the scandal on behalf of Marie Curie and Paul Langevin and representing their interests.
Langevin and Perrin were closely socially connected and Marie Curie had been drawn into this circle. Marguerite Borel was a central connection in this social network. Marguerite’s husband was the mathematician Émile Borel and Marguerite was the daughter of Paul Appel. Appel and Poincaré were lifelong friends.