Einstein In Barcelona

The discoverer of the theory of relativity visited the Catalan capital in 1923. A group of scientists organized a soirée during which there was a tasting of dishes with mysterious names. Catalan physicists are deciphering that menu so that they can organize a similar dinner this autumn.

On 27 February 1927, Einstein attended a dinner which was held in his honor by scientists, politicians and diplomats in Barcelona. It was a substantial meal with ample liquid refreshment for a frugal genius who was traveling from one conference to another in Spain. In his diary, Einstein recorded the friendship and warmth that he enjoyed on that trip in which there was also complicity, good humor and a touch of mystery. What did they have for dinner that night? The menu, written in relativistic Latin and printed in Gothic script, as it was described in the newspapers of the day, contained an enigma in each entry: Homo platonicus secundum Diogenem cum jure Michelsoniense, Malum parvum cum Doppler effectu, Fructus Galilei, Caffea sobraliensis cum spirituosibus liquoribus et vectoribus tabacalibus. It was nothing more than a friendly joke perpetrated by the Catalan scientists who met him on that visit. But what did it all mean?

Two Catalan physicists, Emma Sallent and Antoni Roca, have been deciphering the clues. Firstly, they translated the Latin: Homo platonicus secundum Diogenem cum jure Michelsoniense. They ate chicken! Plato defined 'man' (homo) as a biped without feathers. The cynic Diogenes sent him a plucked chicken as a joke. The Michelson sauce is in honor of the German physicist.

Roca had a Eureka moment when he tried to uncover what was behind the caffea sobraliensis. Sobral was the Brazilian village where the British expedition went to observe the solar eclipse of 1919 to check the predictions of Einstein's general theory of relativity. After good Brazilian coffee there were vectorial brandies and liquors. Perhaps the friends of the famous professor mixed the bandy and the coffee so that he could try the well known carajillo (coffee with a dash of brandy).

By decoding the menu, more of which later in this article, the Catalan physicists want to reproduce that famous dinner this year. A number of them, together with representatives of Catalan societies of physics and the history of science and technology, are organizing it for this autumn. “We are trying to commemorate and promote physics and spread the legacy of Einstein”, explained Professor Luis Navarro. A catering college may well be responsible for the menu which will be served to the significant number of diners.

Einstein came to Barcelona five days before that dinner, on Thursday 22nd February of 1923. Nobody went to meet him at the station so he picked up his things and went to the house of the scientist Esteve Terradas, who was not at home. He left a note, asking him the name of the hotel where he was staying. Then he went in search of the engineers, Casimir Lana Sarrate and Rafael Campalans, the second of which was the head of the Consejería de Pedagogía de la Mancomunidad de Cataluña (the Ministry of Teaching for the community of Catalonia), the institution that had invited the Nobel prize winner to Barcelona. It was Campalans who promised to pay Einstein 3000 pesetas for his conferences. Einstein actually received 3500 pesetas.

Campalans was also the host at the dinner, and his mother was the cook of many of the dishes that they tasted. The press of the time reported on the banquet, the diners and especially the music: “Regino Sainz de la Maza played the most beautiful guitar pieces; the Trio Barcelona interpreted chosen items from its best repertoire; the famous soprano Andrea Fornells sang a selection of songs of her homeland... ”, wrote the periodical La Veu de Catalunya (the Voice of Catalonia) the next day. It concluded, “The eminent professor was very pleased, especially admiring and taking a lively interest in the Catalan songs”.

Among the guests were the German consul, Ulrich von Hassel, and his wife, Ilse von Tirpiz, senior civil servants of the Barcelona town hall and the colleagues who organized the trip and the meal, Lassaleta and Lana Serrate. The latter certainly attended as the press mentioned his name. Of the others we are not sure. For example, there is doubt about the attendance of Professor Terradas whose family circumstances were complicated at that time owing to the death of his small daughter. For this reason, the investigators Sallent and Roca who wrote the article about Einstein's dinner in the Revista de Física (Physics Journal) did not think that he collaborated in the writing of the enigmatic menu.

Each dish (eight “solid”) on the menu included a reference to scientists or philosophers and to scientific theories related to the illustrious guest: Habas a la Lorentz transformadas a la catalana, faisán plateado a la Minkowski en cuatro dimensiones, helado continuo euclídeo (beans a la Lorentz transformed a la catalana, silver plated pheasant a la Minkowski in four dimensions, continuous Euclidean ice cream). Among the “liquids” were, jerez inercial, Champagne Codorniu relativista que reflecta la luz, vinos gravitatorios y manzana pequeña con efecto Doppler (inertial sherry, Relativistic Cordoniu Champagne which reflects the light, gravitational wines and small apple with a Doppler effect). An apple among the liquids? The investigators think that it refers to cider.

In the delicious meal offered by Rafael Campalans and his wife Conxita Permanyer there were also cannelloni. At first sight it was thought that cannulae might be a reference to macaroni, but Campalans' nieces Alicia and Enriqueta Marlet have no doubts in their minds that they were cannelloni. Among the sweets, the cheesecakes were baked in the Forn de San Jaume which Campalans knew well and they are still baked there to this day.

The last items on the menu tell of the time and the location of the dinner. The location was, as has already been mentioned, at the house of Campalans at 118 Calle de Roselló. Checking the time was a bigger head ache for the investigators because the menu referred to the second calends of March, which must be a mistake. “That would correspond to the 28th February and we know that it was the 27th”, explain Sallent and Roca. And the menu refers to the 44th year of the Einstein era. “On the 14th of March Einstein would be 44 years old, so therefore the 44th year of his era was just finishing”.

Logically, in spite of this anecdote about the dinner, the visit of the “first man of science” was for something other than food. It was also marked by sightseeing trips and political debates. He shared, with Campalans and Terrada, a hatred for war: the three demonstrated against the first world war. But there was something that the famous genius could not come to terms with. How could Campalans claim to be socialist and nationalist?: “These are incompatible”, he claimed. Later, the engineer wrote, “he grasped the subtle and fragile nuances of Catalan life” and reconciled “the paradox”. “But this isn't real nationalism! Take my advice and drop that ill-fated name”, he concluded.

On the same day as the dinner, Einstein met some anarchist leaders causing a political incident; the press reported that the physicist had declared himself a scientific revolutionary, which he later denied. Biographers of the Nobel prize winner suggest that in some of his later political statements they could detect echoes of these conversations with his friends in Barcelona.

Perhaps what most affected him was Catalan music, of which he heard a wide variety. If there was a good helping at the dinner, he was able to sample the second course the next day. The Peña de la Danza (Dancing Club) invited him to the Escuela Industrial de Barcelona (Industrial School of Barcelona) to a full repertoire which he admired and took away a few vinyls. In his diary he also kept a record of that music.

[Reproduced below is an image by screen capture of the PDF of the menu published in the Revista de Física which displays more quickly than the original.]