Solvay Conference 1911

Mark Bernstein: Going To Conferences

Bernstein illustrates his argument by describing the photo below, which brought to my attention that so many these famous scientists were contemporaries.

There’s a picture in the lobby of the Hotel Metropole in Brussels of the attendees at the first Solvay conference in 1911. Madame Curie is sitting next to Henri Poincaré; they’re both examining a paper and it’s more interesting than the group photo. Behind them, a shockingly young Al Einstein is paying more attention to the photographer. Nernst is there, and Rutherford, Lorentz, Planck, de Broglie, Brillouin, Langevin…