University of Geneva Dr. h. c. - awarded on July 9, 1909

_____________________ On Friday, July 9, 1909, the University of Geneva awarded Albert Einstein the honorary doctorate on occasion of the 350th founding year of the university. 110 persons were honored during this ceremony. Among the honored persons were also the French chemist and physicist Marie Curie (1867-1934) and the German chemist and philosopher Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932). Einstein was awarded the honorary doctorate following the proposal of the experimental physicist and Director of the Physical Institute of the University of Geneva Charles Eugène Guye (1866-1942). Einstein was present during the ceremony. On the day of the award he wrote in a letter to Lucien Chavan (1868-1942) and his wife Jeanne: "... I send you an affectionate greeting from the hospitable Geneva. I am delighted about the friendliness and kindness of the people ..."

It was Chavan who had convinced Einstein to take part in the ceremony which is connected with the award, after Einstein had, accidentally, thrown the invitation into the "official wastepaper basket" of the Bernese patent-office. In his memories concerning the end of the ceremony it says: "The ceremony ended with the most opulent feast that I have taken part in during my whole life. Then I said to a patrician from Geneva who was sitting next to me: 'Do you know what Calvin would have made if he was still alive?' As he said no, and asked me for my opinion, I said: 'He would have erected a large pyre, and he would have burned us all because of sinful gluttony.' The man did no longer speak to me, and this is the last thing I can remember with regard to the noteworthy ceremony." Source: "Albert Einstein - A biography" Albrecht Fölsing, Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt / Main, 1993 It was the reformer Johannes Calvin (1509-1564) who had, in 1559, founded the Geneva Academy, the predecessor of the University of Geneva. It was Albert Einstein‘s first honorary doctorate, but many more were to follow.