5a. Translation.

 

27.12.61

Dear Heisenberg,

Thank you for your kind letter. It was a pleasure for me to attempt to evoke some memories from the old days in my small contribution to the Festschrift on your 60th birthday. At my age it is only natural that I dwell more and more on thoughts of the great adventure which we all experienced, and, as I told you in Brussels, I have in a Rutherford Lecture, of which I hope soon to be able to send you a reprint, described some of my memories both of Rutherford himself and of the developments that the discovery of the atomic nucleus led to.

At the moment I am also occupied by an account requested from many quarters of the role of nuclear physics in the dark times that we all had to live through during the last war, and thereby, as with any other historical investigation, I have felt how difficult it is to form an accurate impression of events in which many have taken part. I hope that we shall have the opportunity to talk in more detail about such questions and to clear up various misunderstandings, especially in connection with the visit by you and Weizsäcker to Copenhagen in 1942(?), the background and purpose of which I am still being asked about from many quarters.

We were all very interested to hear about the confirmation that the latest experiments have given of your conclusions about the problems of symmetry for some elementary particles, and we look forward to hearing more about this when you come to Copenhagen in the spring.

Margrethe joins me in sending the warmest wishes for a happy new year to you and all the family.

                                                                                        Your devoted