In the Big City of Leipzig

Lie began to lecture even before the agreed date of his inaugural lecture and official reception at the beginning of the summer semester in 1886. The university year in Leipzig was divided into a winter semester and a summer semester. The summer semester began in the middle of April and continued to the middle of August. This was followed by a two-month holiday before the winter semester started in mid-October and continued until mid-March — when again there was a one-month holiday before the new summer semester began. This was an arrangement of the teaching year that Lie quickly came to like, even though in Christiania he was, of course, used to having time off during the middle of summer — between the Norwegian spring and autumn semesters — when he would leave for the mountains in order to avoid the summer heat. But he seemed to think it was both natural and good that the teaching in Leipzig continued through the warmest part of the year: “Here in July one certainly cannot take any Summer Tour, on foot at least;” he wrote home to Motzfeldt — besides, the heat was less bothersome when one was working, and moreover, the houses in Leipzig were certainly designed such that the heat did not obtain any “real Strength”. In addition, his own house in Seeburgstrasse kept the heat out, as he reported to his friend in Christiania, adding, “Had I such a House on Drammensveien [in Christiania/Oslo], I would certainly feel fortunate?”