Abstract
WRITING with reference to the letter “Heidelberg, Spinoza and Academic Freedom” in NATURE of February 29, p. 364, a correspondent states that the solemn presentation of the charter to the Elector Palatine took place on June 24, 1386, and suggests that this date is an appropriate one to have in mind in connexion with the celebrations to be held in the University of Heidelberg in June next. October 19, 1936, would appear to be the opening of the 551st academic year, not the 550th, as stated in Miss Gardiner's letter. It is now stated (The Times, March 3) that the Rector of the University of Heidelberg has sent a letter to universities and academies in Great Britain (with the exception of Cambridge) which have received invitations to participate in the celebrations, withdrawing the invitations. In the course of his letter, the Rector says: “a number of English personalities have to our great regret confused before the public at large their own political opinions with the academic character of the invitation of the University of Heidelberg to its 550th anniversary celebrations and thus deprived the latter of its true meaning. By such action it appears to me that public opinion has been influenced in such a manner as to make it difficult for an Englishman to accept an invitation which has been sent in a friendly spirit”.
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University of Heidelberg. Nature 137, 394 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/137394c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/137394c0