When Göttingen appointed several distinguished Jewish mathematicians and physicists (Courant, Born, Franck) it was derisively called 'the Jewish university'. It should be remembered, however, that academic antisemitism was not a peculiarly German institution. During the 1930s prestigious American universities such as Harvard strove to limit appointments of Jewish professors and admission of Jewish students.

On February 8th, he gave a popular public lecture at the Prussian Academy, 'Why are Atoms so Small?' Small in relation to what, he asked? In relation to highly organized living structures? that have complex functions? such as cogitating about atoms. Thus the question can be rephrased as 'Why are there so many atoms in living organisms?' The answer is then that the laws of physics are statistical laws, and they become precise only for systems, containing a very large number of particles.