A. Einstein's nomination letter for the Nobel Prize in Physics for Erwin Schrödinger and Werner Heisenberg, ca. 30 Sept. 1931.
"In my opinion, this theory [quantum mechanics] contains without doubt a piece of the ultimate truth. The achievements of both men are independent of each other and so significant that it would not be ap propriate to divide a Nobel prize between them. The question of who should get the prize first is hard to answer. Personally, I assess Schrödinger's achievement as the greater one, since I have the impression that the concepts created by him will carry further than those of Heisenberg.
[Here Einstein adds a footnote: This, however, is only my opinion, which may be wrong.]
On the other hand, the first important publication by Heisenberg precedes the one by Schrödinger. If I had to decide, I would give the prize first to Schrödinger."
1931年9月30日，爱因斯坦为薛定谔和海森伯格获得诺贝尔奖写提名信。“在我看来，量子力学毫无疑问是真理，他们两人的成就是彼此独立的且是重大的，因而不合适让他们两人平分诺贝尔奖。问题是让谁先获得诺贝尔奖很难决定。我个人认为，薛定谔的成就更大，因为他创造的概念比海森伯格更深刻“。
爱因斯坦加了一个备注：不过这只是我的观点，也许是错的。
另一方面，海森伯格比薛定谔先出版第一个重要的结论。如果我要做一个决定，我将先颁奖给薛定谔。