BORN, Max (1882-1970). Typed letter signed ("Max Born") to Samuel Goudsmit. Edinburgh, 6 December 1951. 1 page, 4to, 254 x 203 mm, on University of Edinburgh stationery, received stamp lower margin, red pencil annotation upper corner, a few tiny holes upper left corner, creased.

"IT IS NOT SO MUCH THE FINANCIAL QUESTION WHICH ANGERS ME, BUT THE INCREDIBLE DISREGARD FOR SCIENTIFIC WORK AND DIGNITY."

Born enlists the help of American physicist Samuel Goudsmit (1902-1978) regarding royalties for his 1932 textbook on optics whose copyrights were seized by the Custodian of Alien Property after the Second World War. In his letter, Born refers to a Letter to the Editor he wrote for the Manchester Guardian on 27 November 1951 (not present): "In 1932 I published a voluminous textbook on optics...Six months later I had to leave Germany as a victim of Hitler's persecution...From that moment I received no royalties from the book...After the war the book, like many others from German publishing firms, was confiscated by the United States Government." Born writes Goudsmit: "I would be grateful if you could induce the American Physical Society and any other bodies to take up the matter, and perhaps publish a copy of my letter in one of the big American newspapers or even in a physical periodical."

Goudsmit's papers (digitized by the American Institute of Physics) include this letter, and contain correspondence between Goudsmit, Born, and the Department of State regarding the matter of Born's copyrights; also included there is a carbon copy of a letter sent to born by the Office of Alien Property regarding the issue of his copyrights.

BORN, Max (1882-1970). Typed letter signed ("Max Born") to Samuel Goudsmit. Edinburgh, 6 December 1951. 1 page, 4to, 254 x 203 mm, on University of Edinburgh stationery, received stamp lower margin, red pencil annotation upper corner, a few tiny holes upper left corner, creased.