“Holland's Calling”

The death of the physicist and Nobel laureate Hendrik Antoon Lorentz, on 4 February 1928, was an event of national significance in the Netherlands. Thousands of people lined the streets of Haarlem to watch the funeral procession (Figure 3.1). High school teachers took an hour of their class time to discuss the great Dutchman. Telegraph and telephone connections were halted for three minutes at noon. And in city councils, university halls, Teylers Foundation, and the Royal Academy of Sciences, Lorentz was extensively commemorated. ¹ The largest memorial took place at Leiden University, where Einstein came to deliver an obituary and 7,800 people tried to gain entrance. It was “dead silent”, as an emotional Einstein began to speak, first softly, then more clearly, about his older mentor—his scientific work, his personality, and, above all, his efforts for international cooperation. For this was “the most important” of all of Lorentz’ endeavors: mediating between scientists of hostile camps after the Great War, and trying to make “thinking people” set the right example through the International Committee for Intellectual Cooperation (ICIC) of the League of Nations. “[W]ith his entire soul he labored for world peace”, Einstein concluded, and there could be no greater tribute than to follow him in these footsteps. ²