Re: Guess who?

Am Montag000007, 07.04.2025 um 12:03 schrieb J. J. Lodder:

Physfitfreak <physfitfreak@gmail.com> wrote:
 

On 3/12/25 4:16 PM, J. J. Lodder wrote:

FYA, all.
Who wrote this letter, and for whom was it intended?
(ten bonus points for the correct year)
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Herr Einstein is one of the most original minds that we have ever met.
In spite of his youth he already occupies a very honorable position
among the foremost savants of his time.
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What we marvel at him, above all, is the ease with which he adjusts
himself to new conceptions and draws all possible deductions from them.
He does not cling to classic principles, but sees all conceivable
possibilities when he is confronted with a physical problem.
In his mind this becomes transformed into an anticipation of
new phenomena that may some day be verified in actual experience....
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The future will give more and more proofs of the merits of Herr
Einstein, and the University that succeeds in attaching him to itself
may be certain that it will derive honour from its connection with the
young master.
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Guess Who?
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Jan
(cheaters will be disqualified)
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This forged letter sounds like what Einstein himself would dictate to a
"Whodat" type of Bozo to create a recommendation letter.

 So denialism is what it is for you.
 In the meantime I have dug up he original French text.
(not bad, for a forger who didn't speak French, Eh?)
 As for the letter: Einstein and Poincare had met for the first and last
time at the Solvay conference, Oct. 30 to Nov. 2, 1911.
The letter of recommendation by Curie and Poincare to the ETH, Zurich,
was written shortly afterwards.
Einstein's appointment at the ETH finally came through in July 1912.
 It is of course inconceivable that Poincare would have met Einstein on
friendly terms at the Solvay, where he had lively discussions with him,
(together with Lorentz) and that he would have written this letter of
recommendation if he had considered Einstein to be a mere plagiarist
of his own work.
 Jan
 Letter of Recommendatation
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M. Einstein est un des esprits les plus originaux que j'aie connus;

...

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Signed,  Mme. Curie and Henri Poincaré

translation by google
"Mr. Einstein is one of the most original minds I have ever known; "
Apparently Poincare knew Einstein in person, hence Einstein spoke French.
But not only was Einstein able to speak French somehow, but apperently spoke French well.
This little fact disturbed me already some time ago, since Einstein was by no means a fast learner of any language (as can be seen in his poor performance in English after ten years at Princton).
So: where did Einstein learn French?
Most likely Einstein also spoke Italien, because his family lived in Pavia, Italy and Einstein spent some time there.
Now: German, Italian and French make a set of languages, which are spoken in Switzerland and no other country.
The natural question would be, if Einstein had also other relations to Switzerland.
Well, actually Einstein had a few:
went to school in Aarau (Switzerland)
went to university in Zurich (Switzerland)
married, lived and worked in Bern (Switzerland)
spent his live after retirement in Switzerland
has Swiss citizenship
TH