SELECTED PAPERS 



The first impulse may be to offer them a chair at one of our uni- 

 versities. But here I should like to sound a warning note, which is 

 partly induced by the recent statement on the 'Rights and Respon- 

 sibilities of Universities and Their Faculties' by the Association of 

 American Universities. It appears to me that this report admirably 

 formulates the creed of the majority of the American scientists as far 

 as the subject of academic freedom is concerned. It is obvious that, 

 also in this report, high demands are made on the mental and ethical 

 structure of the individual faculty members. This point has also been 

 especially considered by Professor Hildebrand in his excellent article 

 on 'The Professor and His Public'. Anyone will agree with his con- 

 clusion that 'the public will not accept the claim that academic free- 

 dom exempts a man from responsibility to be a decent citizen'. At 

 some other place, Professor Hildebrand explicitly denies the professor 

 the right to be a fool; and again we admit that this is a rightful demand 

 to be made on a university professor, who also has an educational task. 

 But, may we ask the same from a highly gifted scientist of the romantic 

 type? If we remember his 'extreme naivete in general affairs', I am 

 inclined to answer the question in the negative. This implies that, in 

 view of the indispensability of scientists of the romantic type for the 

 progress of science, very real interests of science will be served, if we 

 can put these scientists at more or less isolated research posts. We 

 should, of course, not give our scientists a license to behave as 'indecent 

 citizens', but, in their infinite worship of science, they should have 

 freedom to ignore citizenship. 



It is not the place here to discuss the practical realization of the out- 

 lined principle. Suffice it to state that there should be more institutions 

 like your Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton, more research 

 professorships or fellowships like those sponsored by The Royal Society. 

 Science cannot afford to let scientific geniuses perish, simply because 

 they do not fit the social environment indissolubly connected with the 

 academic teacher. 



All the foregoing superficial considerations should, however, not 

 keep me from the main part of my task for to-night. For this can be 

 nothing but to convey a message of friendship, gratitude, and admira- 

 tion from the Netherlands scientists - and more especially from the 

 members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Sciences - to the Ame- 

 rican scientists, of whom my audience is such a brilliant representation. 



482 



