From Zürich to the IAU.... Laughs and Duties

Abstract

Chocolates, chocolates, chocolates.... The first memory I have from Edith (1948) is one of a smiling generosity, that of a sort of smiling angel coming from a rich country, Switzerland, which had not suffered from the hunger of western Europe.. Remember that in the winter of 1945, the Dutch were eating the tulip bulbs...I was at Utrecht, after the meeting of the IAU in Zürich, where Edith had played an essential part in the organisation. I could not have attended it; I was myself a very young chick, still working for my Ph.D. with Marcel Minnaert. After Zürich, Edith needed some fresh air. She came through Utrecht; what for ? I could not remember...For how long ? I just do not know. Her path had the smell of chocolate, the colour of her unforgettable smile, and the sound of her laughs.... Of course, we became good friends, and met on many occasions, ever since... I soon discovered that she was not exceedingly happy in her very subaltern role in the solar physics at Zürich and Arosa. Max Waldmeier’s possessive personality did not fit the smiling and imaginative way of Edith !... The situation was worse than only conflicting... She had to leave Zürich and Arosa, to go to a better intellectual climate.