that a change has only been brought about in the interest of the University, but in no way for
me personally.” 133
For Lorentz, these are unusually strong words. Ever conciliatory and in full control of his
emotions, his daughter describes how the issue of the two rooms being wrongly assigned “was
not discussed.” She adds: “My father preferred, rightly or wrongly, to keep his peace of mind
rather than to create a disturbance unless it were strictly necessary.” 134
Either way, these circumstances would have made Lorentz especially receptive to what the
trustees of the Teyler Foundation had to offer. But could they also have known about his
situation? The evidence which indicates that in all likelihood they did, is the intimate
involvement of Johannes Bosscha jr. in the negotiations preceding Lorentz’ appointment. As
Fontein later recalled, it was Bosscha “who showed the trustees Lorentz’ path to Haarlem”.135
Recall that Bosscha was an acolyte of the former curator van der Willigen. At this point in
time, Bosscha was the general secretary of the Holland Society of the Sciences, and had
already offered Lorentz to succeed him in this post in 1908, in an attempt at providing Lorentz
with a graceful exit from Leiden and to relieve him of his teaching obligations.136 The two
men had known each other for a long time and respected each other deeply. Bosscha lived in
Heemstede, near Haarlem, where the Holland Society was based, across the street from
Teylers Museum. Fontein was a member of the Holland Society.137 So multiple channels of
communication were open, and as a letter from Bosscha to Lorentz reveals, they were used,
too: just days after the first meeting between Thone, Fontein and Lorentz, Johannes Bosscha
writes to Lorentz reporting that he had met “his friend Fontein” during an evening stroll along
the beach to enjoy “the beautiful sunset”, and that Fontein had told him about the meeting at
his home. Bosscha is joyous that “you are seriously considering Teylers’ proposals”, and then
revealingly adds - not without apologising - “I already knew of them, but was not allowed to
speak about them, when I received your pleasant visit.”138 Unsurprisingly, Bosscha then
strongly advises Lorentz to take up the position offered, praising the clean air in Haarlem as a
great advantage not only for the family.
At any rate Lorentz had obviously begun seriously considering accepting the offer to succeed
van der Ven, starting a round of four months’ negotiating with the trustees, even though as far
as they were concerned, there was little to negotiate about. In their enthusiasm - probably
Fontein’s above all — they essentially agreed to everything Lorentz proposed. Yet as was
already mentioned in the introductory remarks to this chapter, the trustees were not all equally
133 “ik mag het, dunkt mij, zoo beschouwen dat er alleen ten behoeve van de Universiteit en geenszins voor mij
persoonlijk eene verandering is gekomen”: H.A. Lorentz to J. Bosscha”, c. 17.08.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 183.
34 Geertruida Luberta de Haas-Lorentz, ed., H.A. Lorentz: Impressions o f His Life and Work. (Amsterdam:
North-Holland Pub. Co., 1957), 98.
135 “die voor Lorentz, den weg naar Haarlem aan Directeuren heefl gewezen”: “Directienotulen”, 17.02.1928,
Haarlem, ATS, vol. 15.
136 H.A. Lorentz to J. Bosscha, c. 17.08.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 183.
1 7 Johan A. Bierens de Haan, De Hollandsche Maatschappij der Wetenschappen, 1752-1952 (Haarlem: Tjeenk
Willink & Zoon, 1970), 383.
13 “gij Teylers voorstellen in ernstige overweging neemt” / “Ik wist er reeds van, maar mocht er niet van
spreken, toen ik uw aangenaam bezoek ontving”: J. Bosscha to H.A. Lorentz, 11.08.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol.
183.
enthusiastic: already during the very first meeting at which approaching Lorentz had been
discussed, two of the trustees had voiced fears that the Foundation’s financial muscle was not
enough to afford such a prestigious successor to van der Ven - although they were quick to
add that, otherwise, they were “very taken with the concept of associating prof. Lorentz with
the Foundation”.139 These two were Pieter Loosjes and Louis Paul Zocher. Four months later,
Loosjes doubts had been alleviated, but Zocher still had it recorded in the minutes that he
objected to Lorentz being taken on.1 Again, he added, purely on financial grounds.
To Lorentz and Bosscha it was as yet inconceivable that the Teyler Foundation’s resources
were not unlimited. When Lorentz confessed that he would feel uneasy in accepting an offer
Fontein had made, namely that he was to continue to receive his full salary even in retirement,
Bosscha replied that Teylers was “wealthy enough” to be able to pay him and a successor a
full salary for some years.1 1
Zocher’s qualms later proved not to be unfounded, but in 1909, Fontein’s enthusiasm went
unabated, and everything was done to entice Lorentz to come to Haarlem. Besides the
problems irritating him in Leiden that were mentioned above, Lorentz was tempted for three
reasons. Firstly, he repeatedly stated that he would be happy to work for a “Dutch” institution
with such a rich heritage as the Teyler Foundation.142 Secondly, he told Bosscha that it was
“tempting, before it is too late to do so, to take a slightly different path [professionally], on
which I might possibly be able to work more fruitfully than in [...] my current position.”
And thirdly, he must have thought he might be more productive in Haarlem than he was in his
“current position” because he had access to a laboratory of his own, could edit the
Foundation’s small scientific journal, the Archives du Musée Teyler, and all the time would
essentially be his own boss, having to answer only to the trustees - who were obviously eager
to support him wherever they could.
Yet he had some worries as well. The first was that he felt there was no appropriate successor
for him in Leiden yet. He granted that “there are indeed some promising young folk, but it is
precisely over the course of the next few years that it shall have to transpire what they are
really capable of.”144 His second worry was that he could forfeit his rights to the considerable
government pension which he would only receive if he worked at a university and remained
in government service right up until his retirement age of 65, which would have been in 1918.
Although he doubted that, after 31 years of service, both the university and the government
139 “zeer ingenomen met het denkbeeld prof. Lorentz aan de Stichting te verbinden”: “Directienotulen”,
28.07.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 13.
140 “Directienotulen”, 10.12.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 13.
141 “vermögend genoeg”: J. Bosscha to H.A. Lorentz, 17.08.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 193.
142 He speaks o f “eene zoo echt Nederlandsche instelling als T.”in: H.A. Lorentz to J. Bosscha, c. 17.08.1909,
Haarlem, ATS, vol. 183; the same phrase is used in: H.A. Lorentz to trustees o f the Teyler Foundation,
25.08.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 36.
l43“verlokkend, vóór het daartoe te laat wordt, nog eens een ietwat andere richting in te slaan, waarin ik
misschien met meer vrucht zou kunnen werkzaam zijn dan in [...] mijne tegenwoordige positie.”: H.A. Lorentz
to J. Bosscha, c. 17.08.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 183.
144“Er zijn wel een paar veelbelovende jongelui, maar juist in de eerstvolgende jaren zal moeten blijken wat zij
kunnen presteren.”: H.A. Lorentz to J. Bosscha, c. 17.08.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 183.