Setting the Course

Eckert, Michael

doi:10.1007/978-1-4614-7461-6_2

Michael Eckert²

1162 Accesses

Abstract

After 6 years of studies, his achievements—a Ph.D. and the teacher’s certificate—let Sommerfeld look confidently to the future. Graduates of the mathematical physics seminar at the University of Königsberg, among whom he now could count himself, normally went on to careers as high school teachers. The teaching certificate qualified him only in the subject matter for this profession, however. Before final qualification, he had yet to complete a probationary year, to demonstrate his practical abilities for a teaching career. But Sommerfeld was in no hurry to move ahead with this. For now, he still had his military obligation to fulfill. As the graduate of a humanistic high school, he belonged to the privileged class who, as “one-year volunteers,” could opt for an abbreviated term of military service instead of the normal 3-year term.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Chapter: USD 29.95; Price excludes VAT (USA)

eBook: USD 69.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Softcover Book: USD 89.99; Price excludes VAT (USA)

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

Institutional subscriptions

Notes

1.
Volkmann, Franz Neumann, 1896, pp. 59–67; Olesko, Physics, 1991.
2.
To his parents, August, 25, 1892.
3.
Hashagen, Walther von Dyck, 2003, pp. 419–424.
4.
To his parents, August 25, 1892.
5.
Hashagen, Walther von Dyck, 2003, p. 424.
6.
To his parents, undated [early September, 1892].
7.
From Alexander von Brill, December 5, 1928. DMA, HS 1977-28/A,41.
8.
Here, Sommerfeld employs a pun impossible to render as a pun in English: “Schwindel” means both “dizziness,” “vertigo,” and “swindle,” “humbug.”
9.
To his parents, undated [early September, 1892].
10.
Evans, Tod, 1990.
11.
Hashagen, Walther von Dyck, 2003, pp. 419–436; Dyck, Katalog, 1892, Foreword.
12.
To Adolf Hurwitz, September, 1892. SUB, Mathematiker-Archiv 79, 260. Also in ASWB I.
13.
Frei, Briefwechsel, 1985.
14.
Bescheinigung, DMA, NL 89, 016, Mappe 1.7.
15.
Mertens, Bildungsprivileg, 1990.
16.
Sommerfeld, Genossenschaft, 1890, p. 220.
17.
Letters to his mother, end of July to beginning of September, 1893.
18.
From Margarete Erdmann, July 7, 1893.
19.
Rowe, Felix Klein, 1989; Tobies, Development, 2002.
20.
Brocke, Hochschul- und Wissenschaftspolitik, 1980.
21.
Peter Roquette: Heinrich Weber, David Hilbert, and Königsberg, 1992. http://www.rzuser.uni-heidelberg.de/~ci3/weber.pdf (29 January 2013).
22.
Parshall/Rowe, Emergence, 1994, ch. 7.
23.
Hashagen, Walther von Dyck, 2003, p. 434.
24.
Klein to Hilbert, October 27, 1893, printed in Frei, Briefwechsel, 1985, p. 99.
25.
Franz Sommerfeld, Familie der Quarze, 1900.
26.
Schulz, Theodor Liebisch, 1922, p. 419.
27.
To his parents, October 9, 1893.
28.
To his mother, October 13, 1893.
29.
Schulz, Theodor Liebisch, 1922.
30.
To his mother, October 13, 1893.
31.
To his mother, October 29, 1893.
32.
To his mother, February 17, 1894.
33.
Here and throughout this work, “lecturer” translates “Privatdozent,” a German academic rank, pre-professorial, but granted permission to lecture at the university. Privatdozenten are essentially free-lancers: with or without a stipend, they are occasionally employed as assistant professors (as Sommerfeld was for two years). When this term of employment is over, they return to the status of Privatdozent (lecturer). This status requires the “habilitation”—another qualifying ritual peculiar to the German university system. A successful “habilitation” carries with it permission to lecture. See chap. 3.4 for greater detail.
34.
To his parents, October 13, 1893.
35.
To his mother, October 31, 1893.
36.
To his parents, October 29, 1893.
37.
To his parents, October 29, 1893.
38.
To his parents, November 27, 1893.
39.
Saldern, Göttingen, 1999, pp. 16–17.
40.
To his parents, October 29, 1893.
41.
To his mother, November 7, 1893.
42.
To his mother, November 14, 1893.
43.
To his mother, November 19, 1893.
44.
To his mother, November 27, 1893.
45.
To his mother, December 20, 1893.
46.
Adelheid Liebisch to Sommerfeld‘s mother, December 20, 1893.
47.
To his mother, December 20, 1893.
48.
To his mother, December 20, 1893.
49.
Ibid.
50.
To his parents, December 24, 1893.
51.
To his parents, October 29, 1893.
52.
To his parents, November 4, 1893.
53.
To his mother, January 2, 1894.
54.
To his mother, January 5, 1894.
55.
To his mother, January 20, 1894.
56.
Adelheid Liebisch to Sommerfeld’s mother, January 16, 1893.
57.
To his mother, January 20, 1894.
58.
To his mother, November 19, 1893. Also in ASWB I.
59.
To his mother, January 25, 1894.
60.
To his mother, January 25, 1894.
61.
To his mother, January 27, 1894.
62.
To his parents, February 10, 1894.
63.
To his mother, February 17, 1894.
64.
To his parents, October 29, 1893.
65.
To his mother, October 31, 1893.
66.
To his mother, December 20, 1893.
67.
To his mother, December 5, 1893.
68.
To his mother, March 4, 1894. Also in ASWB I.
69.
To his mother, March 15, 1894.
70.
To his mother, March 16, 1894.
71.
Schulz, Theodor Liebisch, 1922, p. 420.
72.
The frequent change of assistants at the mineralogical insititute is documented in Kuratorialakten der Göttinger Universität, UAG, Kur 1522.
73.
Liebisch to the Curator, March 29, 1894.
74.
To his mother, April 1, 1894. UAG, Kur 7522.
75.
Bescheinigung des Aachener Bezirkskommandos, April 20, 1911. DMA, NL 89, 016, folder 1.7.
76.
To his mother, June, 8 1894.
77.
To his mother, June 9, 1894.
78.
To his mother, June 15, 1894.
79.
To his mother, June 15, 1894.
80.
To his parents, June 27, 1894.
81.
To his mother, July 4, 1894.
82.
To his parents, June 27, 1894.
83.
To his mother, July 29, 1894. Also in ASWB I. Heinrich Hertz (1857–1894) died on January 1 of this year; Hermann von Helmholtz (1821–1894) died on September 8.
84.
To his parents, August 3, 1894.
85.
To his parents, August 24, 1894.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Deutsches Museum, Munich, Germany
Michael Eckert

Authors

Michael Eckert
View author publications
You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

About this chapter

Cite this chapter

Eckert, M. (2013). Setting the Course. In: Arnold Sommerfeld. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7461-6_2

Download citation

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7461-6_2
Published: 24 May 2013
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7460-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7461-6
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)

Publish with us

Policies and ethics