Until he gave up his full professorship in Leiden, Lorentz was now to receive an annual salary
of f2000,-. Once he had come to Haarlem, this was to be raised to f5000,-. An additional
f 10.000,- per year were reserved for what was referred to as the “cabinet”, which in this case
meant everything that fell under Lorentz’ purview. This included the conservator’s annual
salary, which was gradually to rise to 0000,-, as well as an extra f3000,- for any equipment
for the laboratory, flOOO,- for the laboratory attendant (amanuensis) van Waveren who had
already worked with van der Ven, f2000,- for the publication of the Archives, and finally
flOOO,- for lectures and courses.
It was at this meeting that Zocher objected to Lorentz’ appointment for a second time,
because of the costs involved. Van der Ven had received an annual salary of about f3000,-
and a far smaller budget for all the costs he incurred. And not only was what Lorentz was
eventually paid significantly more than what his predecessor had received, but the costs were
even higher than the initial estimate Zocher and Loosjes had objected to four months earlier.
The final bill was so much higher mainly because the initial estimate had not included a well-
educated assistant. Some ten years later, Zocher’s premonitions proved to have been correct.
3. Refurbishment of the Laboratory and Subsequent Research
The first indication that the Foundation’s budget might be stretched to the limit came even
before the new curator and conservator were officially appointed, on December 241' 1909.
Lorentz had asked whether he could participate in a meeting of the trustees in order to relay
some points he had discussed with his new assistant.151 First of all, Elias could not leave
Berlin as quickly as the trustees had hoped, because he wanted to complete a series of
experiments he had been performing with Henri du Bois. With the trustees’ blessing he
eventually arrived in Haarlem in April 1910. But in addition to this, Elias had drawn up some
plans for changes to the laboratory, and, as was to be expected, they came at a cost. The
estimate Elias and Lorentz gave the trustees was about f9000,- spread over a couple of years.
Although Elias considered the laboratory “very suitable”, he did want to have “a few minor
things” installed, as Lorentz put it, such as running water, gas, and a fume cupboard. The
trustees “considered such reasonable”, and Lorentz then suggested ways of economising in
order to obtain the f9000,- required. The trustees were quick to remark that “the calculation of
prof. Lorentz does not add up entirely”, for the simple reason that they did not want to save
f2000,- in one year by not publishing a volume of the Archives, but Elias was given the green
light to go ahead with his plans for refurbishing the laboratory.152
By April 1911, van der Ven would probably have hardly recognised his former work
environment. While Lorentz was still in Leiden, Elias and the laboratory attendant van
151 Lorentz to trustees o f the Teyler Foundation, 22.12.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 36.
I52“zeer bruikbaar” / “eenige kleinigheden” / “achtten zulks billrjk” / “de berekening van Prof. Lorentz niet
geheel opgaat”: “Directienotulen”, 24.12.1909, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 13.
Waveren had overseen the laboratory’s refurbishment. Electric lights had been installed
everywhere, and most rooms were provided with running water and gas. All the walls had
been plastered and painted, and fire doors installed. In order to prevent any possibility of fire
spreading to the museum, the door connecting the museum building and the laboratory had
been sealed off. A whole range of instruments and machines as well as laboratory equipment
had been acquired as well.
Lorentz and Elias now had a total of nine rooms at their disposal, six of which were spread
over the three storeys of two formerly separate houses adjacent to the museum that had
already been conjoined to form the laboratory building during van der Ven’s times. The
ground floor consisted of two rooms, the so-called “large downstairs workroom” and a
workshop for van Waveren. A one-metre thick concrete slab had been installed in the large
workroom under some removable floorboards, so that instruments could be set up on it in
order to minimise any interference of vibrations with measurements. The fume cupboard was
installed in this room as well, and all of the laboratory’s electricity was controlled through a
large switchboard set up here. The workshop was equipped with a lathe and a workbench,
amongst other equipment and tools. By 1912, Lorentz proudly proclaimed that “only for
harder jobs it is occasionally necessary to turn to other workshops.” Over the years van
Waveren built or improved upon a wide range of instruments with the tools available in his
workshop.
The second floor consisted of three rooms: firstly an office for Lorentz, which for some
reason he always referred to in inverted commas; secondly another workroom, the referred to
as “the large upstairs workroom”; and thirdly a small room that was referred to as the “small
upstairs chamber”. This chamber was used as storage space, at least initially.
On the third floor, the top story of one of the two houses that had been conjoined was
converted into a dark room to develop photographs.
Finally, there were two -or, depending on how one counts even three - other buildings
associated with the laboratory, providing the remaining three out of the total of nine rooms.
The first of these buildings was van der Willigen’s “Observatory”, essentially consisting of
one room. It was not used for scientific purposes during Lorentz’ tenure, but must at some
point have been converted into a studio to be used by the curator of the art collections. The
last of the instruments that had still been stored there were transferred to the “Museum” by
1912.155 Lorentz suggested that same year that, should it eventually prove necessary,
additional space for laboratory work could be created by extending the Observatory.
The second building was referred to as the “acids house” (zuurhuisje). It is not clear whether
this was indeed a separate building, or part of an adjacent building. It consisted of two
sections or rooms, one of which housed a 12hp engine to convert electricity (this indicates
153 Unless otherwise indicated, the information presented in the following section is taken from Lorentz’ annual
reports to the trustees o f the T eyler Foundation: “Verslagen”, 1885-1944, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 191.
“alleen for zwarder werk is het in sommige gevallen noodig zieh tot andere werkplaatsen te wenden.”:
“Jaarverslag 1911-1912”, 06.04.1912, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 191.
155 “Jaarverslag 1911-1912”, 06.04.1912, Haarlem, ATS, vol. 191.