Science and Ideology in Einstein’s Visit to South America in 1925

Abstract

Einstein visited South America early in 1925, spending one month in Argentina and one week in both Uruguay and Rio de Janeiro. The visit was one of many trips he made in the first half of the 1920s around Europe and to other continents. From the end of 1919, as his fame spread beyond the scientific milieu, Einstein suddenly found himself in the public eye. He was known and sought out the world over and could give voice to his scientific, political, or ideological points of view. The voyages he made at this time are of precisely this nature, in addition to his interest in visiting different places and experiencing other customs. His journey to the USA in 1921 with Chaim Weizmann, a biochemist who was President of the World Zionist Federation, had the dual aim of giving lectures at American universities and raising funds for the construction of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Likewise, his trips to the UK that same year and to France the following year were underpinned by a desire to reestablish relations between the scientific community in Germany and its counterparts in these countries, which had been severed during the war. In 1922, Einstein went to Japan, which provided him with the chance not only to discuss scientific issues, but also to learn about an unfamiliar and entirely different culture (Sujimoto 1989). He then went to Palestine, where the Jewish state would be created in later years. Likewise, his trip to South America brought together scientific, ideological, and even tourist interests.