Prof. Hevesy and Mrs.Hevesy, when they visited Japan in 1931.
Together with the scientists of the I.P.
C.
R. ー
−

一
−

Back row:

Sugiura, Sahashi,Kubota,Shibata,Nishi, Setoh, Kotake,Shiba, Tuzi, Souda, Uno

Second row:Kimura, Yamaguchi, Sarnejima,Fukuda, Ishida,Nishikawa,
Kinoshita, Iimori, M
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, Isobe, Nishina
Front row: Katayama, Matsubara,Mrs.Takamine, Mrs.Katayama,Hevesy,
Okochi, Mrs.Hevesy,Mrs.Nishina,Nagaoka, Suzuki,Wada

1

Freiburg i. Br.,den 1
8 Nov. 1928
Institut fiir Physikalische Chemie
der UniversiE誼tMy dear Dr.Nishina,
It was not without sorrow that my wife and myself read yourfarewell letter. It is so sad to realise that we will possibly neversee you again. We always hoped that you will visit us before leaving
Europe, but fully realise that you must have been very busy before yourdeparture and Freiburgwas out of your way.
I am writing this letter to Tokio as I am not sure if it would
arrive in time to San Francisco. I received your letter already afortnight ago but I had a busy time since. The reason is that I wasoffered the chair of phys. chem. in the Univ.of Frankfurt and I had tonegotiate a deal with the authorities in Frankfurt, in Berlin and in
Karlsruhe (the Baden state capital, to which Freiburg sorts). It is avery hard decision, a decision for life, to stay or to move. Both towns
are very sympathetic, both Universities very good ones. The conditionof my staying in Freiburg would be an improved laboratory, as myinstitute is,as you experienced it,a rather modest one. We shall see.
'
For your future life in Japan all our best wishes. You will have adifficult time at the beginning after your long stay in Europe. But I
don t doubt that you will feel ultimately very well and acquire a highesteem of your colleagues, an esteem which you deserve in the highest
degree.
If you meet Kimura kindly remember us to him,just so to Mr.and
Mrs.Takamine.
With many kind regards from.
both of us and all our best wishesto your future, still hoping that a revoir will be possible once, I
remainYours very si
ncerely
G.Hevesy.

2Freiburg i. Br. 2
4 April 1929
Hebelstr. 38
Institut fur Physik.Chemie.
der Univ.
Dear Dr. Nishina,
Yesterday I had the visit of Messrs. Inoue and Matsuno and I wastold by them that you got married. I rushed home to tell these exciting
news my wife. Ladies are most interested in such topics and byconsidering the great interest whichmy wife, just as myself, are hopingin your welfare, you will certainly understand how pleased my wife wasabout these pleasant news. We congratulate you both very heartily andwish you much happiness in your married life. This morning your verykind and interesting letter of the first of April reached me. I was
extremely pleased to hear from you. You must have had and certainly
still have a very busy time. Eight years is an appreciable part ofone s lifetime and you must have felt rather strange the first moment
after your arrival to Tokio. But adapting power is one of the mostprominent faculty of able human being and you felt certainly soon as ifyou would not have been away at all. Married life means also a greatchange in one s life. You have to adapt your ways and moods to family
requirements. However it makes one more settled and brings one nearer
to other human beings. You understand easier their wants, wishes,
pleasures and sorrows. I
t must have been a hard task to lecture on
current problems in physics and especially to write down these. We havebeen extremely pleased to hear that Mr. Kimura is feeling well. Pray
remember us very kindly to him and also to Takominc, Sugiuro.
After a long deliberation I decided to remain in Freiburg, where
life is quieter and where it is easier to bring up one s children bodily
and morally as well. In some respects I am very sorry that I came tothis conclusion as I could have built a magnificent laboratory inFrankfurt at once, while my laboratory here shall only be extended in asmall scale. The post in Frankfurt was offered now to Otto Stern. He
was here yesterday and was very pleased to hear from me the very
favorable conditions offered to me, whichwill certainly also be offeredto him. I would be very pleased if Otto Stern, whommany of us consider
to be the most able physical chemist of our generation would accept thispost. I had quite a lot of work with the planning of the Frankfurt
laboratory and connected topics. We have now four spectrographs of3
Siegbahn type filled up, besides three arrangements to take Debye
Scherrer diagrams. We are thus quite well equipped for X‑ray work.
由It is only few days ago that we returned fromMeran in Tirol where
we met my mother. In about two months we are leaving for Capetownwhere
the B.
A. meets this year. We are looking forwards to our journey verymuch. In 1
930/31 we plan a journey to U.S., to Ithaca and once I hope,
we can embark for Japan. But I hope you will come at an earlier date toEurope.
While in Meran I got a telegram from Prof.Bohr inviting me to comefor a week to Copenhagen where several former collaborators of him met.
Unfortunately I could not leave Meran then. My children are keeping
very well and just so does my wife.
With all my best wishes to you and Mrs.N.and heartiest greetings.
I remain yours ever
G. Hevesy

1
5 VIII 1929
Dear Mr.Nishina,
We are staying here with my wife at the Victoria Falls. We had amost interesting time since we left Freiburg in June and will be backthere in October. Hope you are keeping very fit. With heartiest
greetings.

Your G.Hevesy

41929 25 Nov.
My dear Mr. Nishina
We have been very much pleased to see your familiar writing on a
postcard sent by you, Mr. K. and Mr. T. On this postcard you can see,in the background, on the top of the hill Schloss Welsbach. Auer diedunfortunately this summer. A very great loss! When are you coming toEurope?. We would like very much to see you and Mrs. Nishina. With
many kind regards fromboth of us,
yours very sincerelyG. Hevesy

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Institut fi.
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Dear Dr.Nishina,Your kind letter from 1
6 Dec. reached me after my return from
Hungary where I spent the holidays together withmy family. I want also
thank you very heartily for your kind postcard and the good wishes for1930 whichwe very cordially reciprocate.
I am sorry to hear that you have to bear the burden of a lot of
uninteresting work. It is very trying and I hope that you will soon beable to concentrate your forces solely on research. I am very anxiousto come to Japan on my way back from U.
S.A. I would like very much tosee my numerous friends there again and also the country. It will be agreat pleasure for me to give few lectures. I find it very kind tooffer me an amount of about 3000 Yen. It will certainly facilitate themanagement of the financial side of my journey. I intend to take mywife with me. She is very anxious to see you all again, like in the old
Copenhagendays. We will spend the winter in Ithaca and leave there theend of January. I don t intend to visit many American Universities, butwould like to visit Pasadena, if feasible. From the west coast we would
sail to Japan and arrive there the end of February. We could leave themiddle of March and sail home before it is getting too hot. Of course
April and May would be certainly better for Japan but I would5

like to be back for our summer term. We have already to leave here in
September!
We are working fairly hard but we make only slow progress. We have
4 spectrographs running, 2 with primary and 2 with secondary tubes. Somework is going on on the radioactivity of potassium using the new Geiger
counter.
I have no news from Copenhagen. With many kind regards and wishes
fromboth of us. yours sincerely
G.Hevesy

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Institut fur Physik.Chemie
der Univ.
Dear Dr.Nishina,

We have been delighted to get your kind letter of 24.4.Having all
those countless delightful recollections from our trip in Japan we haveentirely forgotten that trifle of unpleasantness which we experienced
through the loss of my wife s watch. However we are very much obliged
to you for all the trouble you took in that matter. We are sure thateverything possible was done and we can close that chapter with a good
conscience.
The new lab. building is now finished so far as the exterior isconcerned,but the electrical installation makes slow progress. Howeverwith some patience that will also be finished and our lab. conditions
will be next winter already very much improved. Dr. Ishibashi is in
Vienna at the Congress of the Bunsen Society. He finds that the Ti/Ba
ratio very markedly increases with decreasing concentration. Some of
the Ba must vanish when the absolute concentration is very low 0.1 % or
less. At the low concentration and at very long exposure the cathoderay effects are very marked. Fassler got some nice results which hewill publish in detail. This moment he tries to determine if it is morefavorable to use K‑rays when analysing Zirconium by the secondary method
or not. The answer seems to be an affirmative one. We have notdetermined yet the secondary Ti/Ba intensity ratio accurately as Dr.
Alexander was occupied in determining exactly the Sn L
α／Sb Lαl6intensity ratio which very markedly deviates from 1. However that will
be soon done and we shall see if the intensity ratios in Tokyo andFreiburg are equal or not'
. We are expecting Dr. Gamow s visit who will
stay with us for few days. I am furthermore writing c/o the Brussel
Embassy to invite Prof. Nagaoka to visit us. We are often speaking fromour experiences in Japan, the sacred bridge in Nikko and the hot beds in
Hakone and so on. It was like a dream.
Pray remember us to all our friends in Tokyo and especially to Mrs.
Nishina.
Many kind regards from both of us.
唱

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Freiburg i. Br.27 July 1931
Hebelstr. 38

My dear Dr. Nishina,Your kind letters of 2.7 and 1
0.7 made me great pleasure. I have
not heard from Prof. Takamine nor Prof. Nagaoka but I was told that thelatter was in Berlin. I am enclosing Geiger s letter, pray keep or
destroy the latter as I don t need it.
My wifP. and the children are in Hornbaek, I intend to leave next
week for Hungary. Mr. Faessler is writing up his paper, he extended his
studies to chlorine compounds as well. Dr. Ishibashi made a very
extended study of the primary Ti/Ba ratio and gets (Ratio of J) 1.18
when he investigates preparations containing about 1 % Ti or more, butmuch larger ratios in very dilute preparations. The ratio increases
furthermore with the increase of time, what indicates a departure ofbarium.
We had an unpleasant time recently. All University expenditures
were badly curtailed and especially the salary of the assistants. The
latter was very low before the war, was increased to the 2‑3 fold after
the war and our assistants have unfortunately a very bad time now. The
whole affair worries me very much. My new lab. made good progress in7spite of all these difficulties and I hope that we can open it in thefall.
I am engaged with collecting systematically all photos taken in
Japan and I recollect simultaneously all my pleasant memories. Enclosed
I am sending a photo showing yourself and my wife at Kamakura.
After a brief stay in Hungary I will return to Freiburg and proceed
the last week in september to London to the B.
A.meeting and the Faraday
centenary.
How is Mrs.Nishina and how is the Baby?
Remember me very kindly to her.

31 Vll 1931
I just obtained Voss s letter,which I am sending you enclosed.
As I have to leave tomorrow for Hungary I amvery much in hurry.
With kindest regards
Yours sincerely
G.Hevesyτhe Institute of Physical andChemical Research
Komagome, Hongo, Tokyo

Tokyo 24, 2. 1933

My dear Professor Hevesy,
I thank you very much indeed for all the separate copies of yourpapers, which you have sent to me now and then and which are very
interesting to me.
Through your work I presume that you are very well. I must
congratulate you on your discovery of Sm radioactivity. It is very

8

sttmulating all people who are interested in nuclear problems in which
we are also very much interested. We hope in near future to begin somework on the artificial desintegration as it seems to be rather an easy
matter. In this connection we want some metallic boron and metallic
beryllium and are going to write to Kahlbaum to send some to us. If you
happen to know a better firm for these materials, we should be extremely
thankful for your information.
How is your family? Are they all right? We are getting on all
right, my wife and two boys. At present Japan is much occupiedwith the
problemof Manchuria and the relationwith League of Nations. Up to thepresent, however, this does not matter us very much and I hope it will
not disturb ourwork in future.
Have you heard from Professor Bohr? I do not know whether he will
come over here in near future.
I met some months ago Dr. Ishibashi who came back from Freiburgand heard different news fromhim but as both of us had very little time
we could not talk much. I hope soon to have an opportunity to see him
and have some more talk about Freiburg.
With kindest remembrances and best wishes to Mrs. Hevesy andyourself frommy wife andYours Sincerely
Y.N.

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Freiburg i. Br. 1933 26 March
Hebelstr. 38

My dear Dr.Nishina,
It was as usual a very great pleasure for us to obtain your verykind letter. Of course what interested us above all the news yourletter contained was the wellbeing of your family. We were very pleased
to hear that they are keeping so well. Our newspapers bring sometimes
news about Japan, but the information given to the reader are so hazythat you can t make yourself any judgement about the political andeconomic situation.

9

I am reading with great interest that you will join the proudcompany of transmutators of the elements. Boron is very easy to obtain,
berylium is much more difficult to prepare. The best source of bothelements is Kahlbaum. If I would know the quantity necessary for you I
would instruct Kahlbaum at once to dispatch you the material, as matterstands I want to take the responsibility. In similar cases pray send me
your instructions. I will be only glad to carry them out.
During our stay in Japan you mentioned me that youwish to get somescandium, I am not sure if I sent you the material. Pray let me know ifthat would not be the case or if youwant to have more.
We were engaged lately in investigating the samarium radiation andwe just started to look out for y‑rays though the hope is a very modest
one, as the intensity of α−rays is already not more than about 1/200 ofthat of uranium.
We worked on the effect of fluorescent screens on the intensity of
X‑rays and also on the fluorescent yield of X‑ray radiation, a very
fascinating problem and much more intricate as thought hitherto.
Recently great changes occurred in Germany, we turned into a
Fascist state, a strong state, with all the advantages and disadvantagesof that system. However as matter stood Germany had the only
possibility to choose that sort of government, the communists would haveotherwise swallowed us sooner or later.
We are missing Dr. Ishibashi very much, he is such a nice and kind
man and I wish he would make a good career.
How is Mr. Kimura and how is Mr. Iimori. Pray remember me verykindly to them.
My family is keeping very well. My second daughter ‑ our thirdchild ‑ is starting to walk. She is a very jolly little girl, full ofLife. My wife had a letter from Mrs. Bohr not long ago. They
contemplate to visit Chicago this summer, but had not yet made theirmind up, when they will start. My family intends to visit the Danish
seashore in July and I will join them in August. I am looking forward
very much to see all the Danish friends again; since we are living inFreiburg I have been once in Denmark for a flying visit. This time I
intend to stay for 5 weeks. We had recently a visit from the young
Bjernsen. He told us that 5 gardeners are engaged in keeping Bohr sgarden which surrounds his new home at Carlsberg, the former brewer

10

Jacobsen s house.
parties.

The house is very smart and well suited for big

Next week we intend to spend in Paris where a brother of mine isliving.
With many kind regards to you and Mrs.Nishina, also formmy wifeYours sincerely
G.Hevesy

5. 5. 1933
My dear Professor Hevesy,

It was a great pleasure for us to have yourvery kind letter of the
26th March and we were very happy to hear that all your family are
keeping very well.
As regards the element Boron we have been able here to get some inan amorphous form. With respect to Beryllium, Dr. Kirsch in Vienna
informed me that one can get a plate of Be from "Phonix" in Rudolstadt,
so I ordered it a few days ago. I do not know the purity of thematerial. I want it as pure as possible. I thank you very much foryour kindness in troubling you to instruct Kahlbaum to send Be to us; I
suppose it is in a powder form. Please tell Kahlbaum people to send me
2gr of powder Be. I should like to know its purity. I should like also
to know if they could supply it in a form of plate or sheet. I thankyou very much for your kindness in advance.
Regarding scandium you sent it to me as soon as you came back to
Freiburg fromJapan. I thanked you for it at that time. We intended touse it for the X‑ray absorption spectra, which we have not carried out
yet but hope to do it soon.
・I saw your paper in Nature on Sm radioactivity, which interests usvery much. What do you think of the report of Langer and Raitt who
found Be to be radioactive.

1
1

We have been trying for nearly a year to take Wilson tracks ofcosmic rays which initiate the chamber to expand and thus showing theirown tracks. Now to our surprise Blackett and Ochialini have done
exactly the same thing and of course they have on account of theirskill and experience gone ahead of us. We hope, however, to get someinteresting results soon.
As regards the artificial disintegration we are very slow owing to
the lack of laboratory means. Neverthelesswe cannot help to be temptedto do this sort of experiments, because there are so many problems which
are waiting their solution. It is quite possible that we come too late,but that does not matter, it is the way to their solution whichinterests us.
I read in newspapers much about the new Fascism of Germany. This
must have, as you say, advantages and disadvantages. I suppose there
are many physicists who suffer from the new anti‑semitic movement.
In Japan it is the time of reaction too and I suppose Japan is notvery popular among most of foreign countries on account of theManchurian affairs. We cannot help it, because that seems to be anational movement. For myself I am happy to be able to do science
without being troubled with political affairs. Only thing I feel very
troubled is the depreciation of our currency. I
t is nearly impossible
to get any experimental apparatus from abroad,we have to get them madein Japan. That takes sometimes very much time.
You told me that Professor and Mrs. Bohr are going to visit
Chicago, I do not know whether they would extend their journey to Japan.
A long time ago I wrote to them asking whether they could come over
here, but have not heard from them. We have been looking forward to see
themhere.
Cherry blossoms are now over here and trees are beautifully green.
It is one of the best seasons here.
With kindest remembrances and best wishes to you and Mrs. Hevesy
frommy wife and myself
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Freiburg i.Br.
Hebelstr. 3
81933 4 June

It was a real pleasure to get your kind letter and to learn about
your doings. You must have difficult times in Japan common with manyother countries. We are also experiencing most interesting times
however I won t enter the field of politics but remain within the lofty
domain of science. After receiving your letter I instructed Kahlbaum tosend you 2g of beryllium and to communicate to you the analysis of thesample should be available. I had the opportunity to speak few days agoof the leading metallurgist of Siemens and he told me that Kahlbaum
purifies presumably the material purchased from Siemens. Be is preparedby electrolysing a fused mixture of beryllium fluoride and barium
fluoride and thus contains some Ba. It is in some respect tragic thatyou were anticipated in your work by Blackett. Laboratories like theCavendish with their great experiences and means are of course best
suited to take up new lines like the neutron research and so on. Earlyin April I saw Blackett in Paris and also Joliot and Broglie all working
on the same line and doing brilliant work. I hope that the Be willsafely reach you and you will have much success in your work. What
happened with Nagaoka s trial to find anomalous isotopic mixture in
u3o8 ? Very remarkable was done on the field of isotopes lately.
Especially the separation of the H isotopes and Kuhn s photochemical
separation of Chlorine are brilliant achievements. We finished ourwork
on the radioactivity of samarium. During our investigations on thissubject we tested also beryllium and found a slight activity, however it
is very difficult to prove that the activity is due to the element andnot to an impurity present. Not long ago American investigators claim
to have found that beryllium is radioactive. It may be it is right but
not yet unambiguously proved. We are making slow progress with X‑raywork and some progress on the field of diffusion in solids. Last week I
gave an address on this subject at the annual meeting of the Bunsen
Gesellschaft, this time in Karlsruhe.
Early in April all my three children got hooping cough. That is avery trying disease. Later I got it also and I am still not recovered,am unable to do any reasonable work. It was with the greatest pleasure
we heard that Mrs. N. and your children are keeping well. Is life more
expensive now in Japan as it used to be and have men with fixed salaries
difficulties in that matter? In Germany the exchange did not drop but
salaries were much reduced. My salary is for example less than a half
it used to be, though it may be adjusted slightly. The general tendency

1
3

is to cut down "high" salaries. Very few Japanese are to be seen inthese days in Germany, which is presumably at least partly due toexchange difficulties. Prof. and Mrs. Bohr arrived in the last days ofApril in New York, they proceeded to Chicago. I don t know if they
intend to visit California. We hope to see them in Copenhagen, where wewill be in August. My family is already leaving the middle of July and
I as the term is finished. I am looking forward very much to come againto Denmark. The last summer spent there was in 1
926.
With all my best wishes and kindest regards, also from my wife
VJ

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8. 7.33
Dear Professor Hevesy
I thank you very much indeed for your very kind and interesting
letter of the /1th June, which I received some weeks ago. I have also to
thank you for your kindness in instructing Kahlbaum to send me 2 gr. ofBe, which we have received all right some days after I received yourletter. We are not yet using the material, but hope to use it forgetting neutrons. I ammuch obliged to you for your taking troubles.
I saw your paper on the radioactivity of Sm and also the address at
Bunsen Gesellschaft. They are all very interesting.
We are working on the cosmic ray particles and hope soon to getgood photographs, but the trouble here at present is that thetemperature is too high and gelatine and grease melt by itself and is
not easy to handle. With artificial disintegration, the progress israther slow but we hope soon to get some results. At present I am
rather interested in the theoretical work on the creation of positive
and negative electrons. I am making some calculations on it together
with my assistant. We think now that we can understand t
he phenomena of
positive electrons all right.
2 As you wrote to me the recent works on the separation of isotopes(H‑ by Lewis and Cl by Kuhn) are wonderful. I hope the work will bepushed on in this direction then we will know more about atomic nuclei.

14Professor Nagaoka has not, so far as I know, tried to find the anomalous
atomic weight of O inu3o8・ He is now the president of Osaka University(new) and seems to be very busy now.
I suppose that this letter will perhaps come to you in Denmark. I
think that you enjoy the Danish peace in contrast to German excitement.
It is very good for your health at least.
You asked me about the Japanese cost of living. Up till present
the cost has not gone up very much, probably just a little. This is ofcourse not the case with things imported. They are prohibitively
expensive owing to the exchange rate. We cannot buy instruments fromabroad and it is very inconvenient. You wrote to me that you see very
few Japanese in Germany. That is of course due to the depreciation of
our currency, It is very difficult for us to go abroad. Our salaries
are not cut down as in Germany, thus if we live on things made in ourcountry, we can get on all right at present. We do not know, however,
how long such a condition continues.
It is very hot and disagreeable now here in Tokyo but we are all
getting on all right in my family, boys are growing up, the elder isjust over three years old and the younger over one.
How is your family? I hope they are all right. I and my wife send
our best wishes and kindest remembrances to Mrs. Hevesy and yourself.
Yours
Y.N.

1
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0・1 J e4 Aug, 1933
My dear Dr. Nishina,
We mentioned you yesterday when meeting Prof. Bohr at Gilleleje.
He told me that he is so sorry that he had no time to write you. He isplanning a journey to Japan next year. He just returned from the U.
S.
and was much impressed by the happenings in that country. I arrived
here few days ago while my family came already to this place the middleof July. It is very beautiful here and the children are very happy to
be on the sea side. We will stay here till the end of this month andproceed then to Hungary to visit my relatives there. I was very pleased
to learn that the Be reached you safely and I hope it will prove to beof great use for you. Should you need any material from Europe pray
don t hesitate to write to me. I assure you that it is a very great
pleasure to me to do you or your friends the slightest service. I am
also looking forward very much to hear particularly what your view on
the nature of positive electron. Nuclear physics are getting more andmore fascinating. I am admiring your great mobility rushing to Hokkaidoto teach modern physics. I
n old days St. Paul was teaching the gospel
with such a zeal as you are teaching wave mechanics. The means ofcommunication became fortunately for you more convenient since thosehistoric days.
Since I wrote you last I have not done any work except someexperiments on the "cathode ray effect" trying to supplement your
Copenhagen results. We followed up how the intensity ratio of Pb Ly,
and Sr 民
主 1 change after short and l
ong exposures to electron
bombardment: Using radioactive PbO we simultaneously measured the α andy activity of the anticathode to get a full information about the actualhappening. Times in Germany are most interesting. You can study humanhistory on experimental lines. But in long run if you happen not to bean historian you are getting tired and begin to long after a quieter
atmosphere.
I was much interested to read that life did not become more
expensive in Japan and hope that matters don t get worse with you.
Incomes ‑ all sorts verymaterially decreased in our countries and theeconomic outlook is very dark. My family is keeping very well, thechildren are growing. I hope that your wife and the babies are very『

1
6

fit and happy. Pray remember me most kindly to Mrs. Nishina, to Prof.
Ii
mori and Kimura and all our friends in Tokyo.
My wife shares in my good wishes and hearty greetings to you
Yours G
. Hevesy

The Institute of Physical andChemicalResearch
Komagome, Hongo, Tokyo

Tokyo, Feb. 1
7, 1937

Dear Professor Hevesy,
I amwriting this letter in order to ask you to do a favour for me.
I should like to know the price in Copenhagen of heavy water of Norsk
Hydro‑ElektriskKvaelstofaktieselskab.
Until last June we bought it directly from this firm at the rate of
Norw. Kr. 5.00 less 50% i.e. Kr. 2.50 per gram of guaranteed min. 99%
D今 O under the condition that it is used only for our own scientificpurposes. Since then, however, the sales in Japan has been taken overby an agent, who does not give any reduction in price. We should liketo have about 500 or 1,000 grams of D O for neutron experiments and thismakes a great difference. I should fike therefore to know the price in
Copenhagen. In case it is lower than here, I should be very muchobliged to you if you would buy it for us and send it to me. I shallsend you the necessary sum of money by cheque as soon as you let me know
the price. Of course I would not like to give you too much trouble andplease do not hesitate to tell me if this is very troublesome foryou.
It is a long ti
me since I wrote to you last. I received someletters and post‑cards as well as various separate copies of yourinteresting works, which you kindly sent to me now and then. With manythanks I read them all. I must apologize you that I have not answered
to you. Recent years I have become very busy and cannot write letters
as I used to do.

17

How are your family and yourself ? I hope they are all very well.
Bohrs are to arrive here on the 15th. April and we are all looking
forward to seeing themhere in Japan at last after such a long waiting.
With kindest regards and best remembrances to your family andyourself,
Yours ever
Y.
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Blegdamsvej 1
5, K0benhavn.
0
den 8 March 1937

Dear Dr. Nishina,
I just obtained your kind letter dated Febr. 1
7 and I was very
pleased to hear that you are keeping well and that yo will soon have thevisit of Prof. Bohr. My wife and myself have in our most vivid memory
the delightful days spent at Tokyo and other resorts of your country andthe unique kindness shown to us. I ordered at once 1,000 grams of D ofrom Norway (99%). When it arrives I will forward it to you i
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.
Pray kindly send a cheque payable to Bohr S Institute covering theequivalent of 2,500 Norwegian Crown.(In Sterling, Dollar or any
Scandinavian currency). The 2500 Norwegian Kronen we will have to pay
to the Norwegian Co. The amount paid for postage and insurance I will
let you know at a latter date, this has no hurry, but in view of thestringent cash position of the institute we would be thankful to you foran early dispatch of the above mentioned sum.
今

It is to‑day just three weeks ago that we got a little daughter,bringing up the number of my children to 4
. We are very happy about
this event, the baby and my wife are both keeping very well.
life at the institute is pleasant as usual, we have unfortunately
no one from Japan but I have collaborators from England, Holland, Czeko‑
Slovakia and Germany.

18

How is Mrs.Nishina, your little son must be quite a big boy, it is
6 years ago that we have been at your house. We all very much hope thatsooner or later you will visit us in Copenhagen. Pray remember me mostkindly to Mrs. Nishina and to all our friends at the Institute and the
University.
With kindest regards, also from my wifeYours everG
. Hevesy

Universitetets Institut
for Teoretisk fysik

Blegdamsvej 1
5 K￠benhavnfJ
den 1
4 V. 1937

My dear Dr.Nishina,
The heavy water was dispatched to you some time ago with a British
Steamer, which is due in Yokohama June 2
1. I hope that the water willreach you safely. Enclosed I am sending you the invoice. As you will
see the institute spent Danish Crown 112 and 7 0're on transport,
insurance and so on not covered by the proceeds of your draft. Pray
send occasionaly the above amount to the institute.
Dr. Frisch and Dr. Koch made recently absorption measurements ofneutron in heavy water using 60 liter of 10% water lent us by the
Norwegian Hydro. I am nearly exclusively doing biological work and am
kept very busy by this activity. In the rooms where once hafnium wascrystallized now are ignited livers of cats, incisors of rats and bloodof dogs. Tempora mutantur!
My family is keeping very well and we much hope that you are all
happy and prosperous.
You gave a very good time to Prof. and Mrs. Bohr. The Danish
newspapers bring detailed news about their stay in Japan and how kindly

19

they were treated. We saw also your photograph together with that ofProf.Bohr in the Berlingske Tidende.
With heartiest greetings to you, Mrs. Nishina and all our common
friends, also frommy wife.
Yours ever
G.Hevesy

The Institute of Physical andChemical Research
Komagome, Hongo,Tokyo
Tokyo, August 28, 1937
Dear Professor Hevesy,
I must apologize you that I have not answered properly to yourletters of March 8 and of May 14, and that I have not thanked you foryour kindness in taking much trouble for procuring heavy water for us.
As I have been very busy, I have not been able to write to you, although
I have had a very bad conscience and have been carrying about yourletters with me every day in the hope that I canwrite to you as soon as
I get time.
First of all I must thank you very much indeed for the heavy water,which arrived here on about June 20. Everything went through all rightand we are now using it for our cyclotron in producing neutrons. Everytime we use heavy waterwe send our thankful thought to Copenhagen.
Next we must congratulate you and Mrs.Hevesy that you got a little
daughter some months ago. We ought t
o have sent our congratulations along time ago. Owing to the accumulation of various duties I am verv
sorry that we have not done so・ How is she now and how are all yourfamily ? I hope you are all in good health.

20

It was a great pleasure for us indeed to have had Professor Bohrand his family here in Japan. Personally it was such an encouragrment
and enlightenment for my scientific life that I shall never forget. We
travelled together various famous places in Japan, the most of which you
have also visited. It was good that they came here in peaceful time.
It would have been impossible for them to travel through China atpresent, since as you know we are having bitter fightings over there.
It is most unfortunate that one cannot find the way of avoiding such acalamity.
I know from your important papers as well as from what Prof. Bohr
told us that you are doing pioneerwork in biology. We intend to follow
you in the same field. Our medical colleagues have been studying somebiological effects produced by neutrons. I am sending to Prof. Bohr acopy of their note to nature", which is expected soon to appear.
Our cyclotron is gtving about 3 to 4 microamperes at 2
.9 MV. We
are trying to increase the current but have not succeeded yet. As
Professor Bohr has probably told you already, we are going to install anelectromagnet of about 220 tons, by means of which we ought to be able
to produce a beam of 25 MV, if it works successfully. Professor
Lawrence of CaliforniaUniversity has very kindly ordered the magnet for
us and we hope to complete it some time next year. I know that it is
not an easy matter to construct and operate such a cyclotron smoothly.
My wife and children are keeping all right. The elder boy whomyou
saw is seven years old now and began his school last April. The younger
one is five years old and is going to his kindergarten.
Once again I send you our best thanks for the heavy water.
With kindest remembrances and best regards to yourself,Mrs.Hevesy
and all your children frommy wife and myself
Yours everY.Nishina

2
1

Universitetets institut
for teoretisk fysik

Blegdamsvej 1
5,Kobenhavn 0
den 30 Aug. 1937

My dear Nishina,
Enclosed I am sending you a copy of the correspondence which took
place recently between the Institute and the NorskHydro, re:your heavy
water. As you will notice the last letter of the Hydro is written in avery kind spirit. Prof. Bohr is very pleased about the way this affair
was settled. We are sending you the correspondence solely to inform youabout the attitude taken by Prof. Bohr, should the latter be of any
interest to you. Prof. Bohr hopes and so do I that you had noinconvenience with the representant of the firm in Tokyo.
The next week a conference tak
es place at the institute, what apity that you can t be present.
My family is keeping very well and we learned with great pleasurefrom Prof.and Mrs.Bohr that the same is the casewith you.
I just arrived back from a short visit in Hungary and I am kept
pretty busy.
With hearty greetings, also from my wife to you, Mrs. Nishina andall our mutual friends
Yours ever
G.Hevesy

22
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Universitetets institut
for teoretisk fysik
My dear Nishina,

Recently I sent copies of the correspondence between this Instituteand the NorskHydro. I am sending you enclosed two more letters.
We hope that you and your family are keeping very well and that you
are in no way disturbed by the war going on in China.
My wife and my two youngest children are still in Tisvilde where
they are enjoying the beautiful fall
. My wife and myself intend to takepart in the Galvani Celebrations at Bologna next month. Otherwise wewill have a rather quiet life.
With hearty greetings from us all
Yours ever
G.Hevesy

The Institute of Physical andChemical Research
Komagome,Hongo, Tokyo
Tokyo,Oct. 3, 1937
My dear Hevesy,
I thank you very much indeed for your kind letter of Aug. 30 andthat of Sept. 7, together with the copies of correspondence which has
passedbetweenProfessor
Bohr
and
Norsk
Hydro‑Elektrisk
Kvaelstofaktieselskab. I am very sorry indeed that I have caused suchan unpleasant trouble for Professor Bohr as well as yourself and also
for t
he whole I
nstitute. I cannot apologize too much for this fault ofme. I am very thankful to Professor Bohr for settling the matter insuch a graceful manner. We have had no enquiries from the side of theagent of the firm in Japan nor from "Norsk Hydro". Every day we areusing the heavy water and it now appears to all of us much more precious

2
3than before.
I suppose you have enjoyed the Galvani celebration at Bologna. I
hope all your family is keeping very well. How is your work going on ?
I sawyour recent note in Nature, which is very intersting for us.
We do not feel as yet much pressure from the war in China. If itlast very long, our scientific activities will have necessarily to be
reduced.
Our cyclotron is giving 1
5 micro‑amps, at 3MV and I hope to use it
for some work. My family is keeping all right.
With best wishes and kindest remembrances from us all to yourself,
Mrs.Hevesy and your children.

Yours everY.Nishina

24 Juli, 1940, Tisvildeleje
Lieber Nishina, Haben Sie meinen herzlichsten Dank f
ur Ihr Kabel
das mich soeben erreichte. Fur Ihre Bemlihungen bin ich zu aufrichtigem
Dank verpflichtet. Es ware mir eine sehr grosse Freude Sie, Kimura,
Iimori und alle unsere gemeinsame Freunde in Tokyo wiedersehen zu
konnen. Die grosse Glite die Sie uns w五hrend unseren letzten Besuch
bekundet haben ist mir lebhaft in Erinnerung. Ich weiss noch nicht ob
es mir moglich sein wird zu reisen, jedenfalls werde ich nicht vor
September in Japan sein kδnnen, auch werde ich diesmal allein, also
nicht mit meine Frau kommen kδnnen. Sobald wie meine endg
i
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l
t
i
g
e Pl這ne2
4

auskrystallisiert wird, lasse ich die Ihnen sofort wissen. Niels B.
1温sst Sie vielmals griissen, er hat sich mit Ihrem Briefe sehr gefreut
und wird Ihnen demnachst schreiben. Er ist mit dem Schreiben vonAbhandlungen iiber die Fissionsfragen beschaftigt. !ch bin dabei unsere
letzten Versuche iiber den Kreislauf von Kalium und Natrium zu
beschreiben. Das Cyklotron arbeitet jetzt, aber starke Pr誼paratekonnen
leider noch nicht dargestellt werden. Wir sind besonders darum
interessiert st孟rkere Kaliumpr誼parate zu bekommen. Natrium geht jeleichter und hat auch weniger biologisches Interesse. !hr neuer
Cyclotron arbeitet sicherlich mit bester Ausbeute. Es freut mich sehr
Ihre Einrichtungen und Arbeiten in Japan sehen zu kるnnen. Hoffentlich
wird mir das gelingen. Meiner Familie geht es sehr gut und hoffentlich
ist bei Ihnen auch alles wohl. Bitte griissen Sie alle sehr herzlich vonmeiner Frau und von mir. !ch danke Ihnen nochmals fiir Ihre Bemiihungen
und g
r
i
i
s
s
e Sie sehr herzlich!hr HevesyG. Hevesy
1
3 Trondhjemsgade
K0benhavn, Danmark

BREVKORT

6 July, 1
9481
5 Blegdamsvej
CopenhagenG. HEVESYMy dear Nishina,
We often wondered in the past 9 years how you, Kimura and all ourfriends in Japan are going on and it was with great pleasure I heard
from Dr. Brues, whom I met last month during a 3 weeks stay in the U.
S.
,
that you are keeping well. I arrived in the most pleasant company ofProf. and Mrs. Bohr to Copenhagen and I am staying at the present withmy wife and youngest daughter at Skagen. My 2 elder daughters are in
England while my son is doing military service in the North of Sweden.
We are mostly in Stockholm but I am going on with my work at Bohr'sinstitutes which is getting now enlarged. Time is going on and deep inthe past lies the time of our pleasant stay in Tokio and still more the25years of your stay in Copenhagen, which after all did not change much,though it became poorer and less well kept. I very much hope and sodoes my wife that we shall all meet again. Remember us most kindly toall our common friends.
Very sincerely yours
George Hevesy

August 26, 1949
Professor G.
V.Hevesy
Universitetets Institut for Teoretisk Fysik
Blegdamsvej 1
5
Copenhagen, DenmarkMy dear Hevesy,
About a year ago I received your very nice card. You probably do
not know how pleased I was to read your dear old handwriting.
I hasten to informyou that I am coming to Copenhagen to attend thegeneral meeting of the International Council of Scientific Unions to beheld on September 14‑16. I leave Tokyo on September 8 and arrive at
Copenhagen on September 13 via London by B.
0.
A.
C. plane. I shallprobably leave Copenhagen on September 22 for return journey but I may
have to leave earlier, if I attend t
he UNESCO meeting to be held inParis. My travel expense was intended to be paid by UNESCO but itfailed and GHQ in Tokyo decided to bear the expense.
I shall be very pleased to see you again. Everything in Japan has
entirely changed. It was good that you saw Japan before the world war
II.
Please send my kindest regard to Mrs. Hevesy,
with best wishes,
Yours
Yoshio Nishina

26

1949 15th Sept.
Institutet for
Organ.‑kemiskForskning
Stockholm 6
63 Oden g.
My dear Nishina,
What a great pleasure to hear from you and to learn that you shallmove about again in the familiar streets and institutes of Copenhagen.
I spent August at the Blegdamsvej and shall be there again in October,
this month I cannot leave Stockholm where I have important duties. Ivery much hope however that you shall visit this fine city and have alook at Siegbahn s very remarkable institute. After obtaining yourletter I got at once in touch with Prof. Siegbahn and suggested toinvite you to address an audience in his institute. Hewas very pleased
with this suggestion and I very much hope that in meantime you make an
appointment with him. Let me know when you are coming, I shall be at
the airport or station to wait for you.
During the years of anxiety we often mentioned you with my wife
hoping that you and all our friends in Japan are keepingwell and it wasa great relief when Dr. Brues from Chicago who saw you in Tokyo told methat you are going strong. We both hope and trust that we can ascertain
ourselves about this fact in one of the coming days.
Heartiest greetings fromboth of us
ever yours
George Hevesy