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An Einstein manuscript, estimated between two and three million euros, auctioned in Paris

2021-11-21T13:40:50.412Z


This manuscript, of more than 50 pages, is a working document on which the physicist Albert Einstein and his collaborator worked at the


It is a stratospheric sale that is being prepared in Paris.

One of the preparatory manuscripts for Albert Einstein's theory of general relativity, estimated between two and three million euros, will be auctioned this Tuesday in the capital.

"This is undoubtedly the most precious manuscript of Einstein ever offered", judge in a press release Christie's, where the sale for the Aguttes house will take place.

The document is an autograph manuscript of 54 pages written in 1913 and 1914, in Zurich (Switzerland), by the famous physicist of German origin and his collaborator and confidant, Michele Besso.

According to Christie's, it is thanks to this Swiss engineer that "the manuscript has, almost miraculously, come down to us: Einstein probably would not have bothered to keep what seemed to him to be a working document".

@Aguttes_ and @christiesparis will offer on November 23 a 54-page manuscript, four-handedly written by Albert Einstein and Michele Besso between 1913 and 1914 and dealing with the theory of general relativity…


Estimate: 2-3 M € https: / /t.co/L2nPcbUjlo pic.twitter.com/tADSkBrKX8

- CARAA (@CARAA_Center) November 6, 2021

After his theory of special relativity, which made him demonstrate in 1905 the famous formula E = mc², Einstein began to work on a theory of general relativity.

This theory of gravity, finally published in November 1915, revolutionized our understanding of the universe.

A very rare document

At the beginning of 1913, he and Besso "tackle one of the problems that the scientific community has been facing for decades: the anomaly of the orbit of the planet Mercury", recalls Christie's.

The two scientists will solve this riddle.

It is not in the calculations lying on this manuscript, which count "a certain number of errors which have gone unnoticed".

When Einstein spotted them, he no longer cared about this manuscript, taken away by Besso.

"Einstein's scientific autograph documents from this period, and more generally from before 1919, are extremely rare," says Christie's.

"Being one of the only two working manuscripts documenting the genesis of the theory of general relativity that have come down to us, it is an extraordinary testimony to Einstein's work and allows us a fascinating dive into the mind of the greatest scientist. of the 20th century, ”continues the auction house.

The other known document from this crucial period in the physicist's research, known as the “Zurich notebook” (late 1912, early 1913) is in the Einstein archives of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Died in 1955 at the age of 76, Einstein has become a symbol of scientific genius as much as a pop figure, with the famous 1951 photo where he sticks his tongue out.

Source: leparis

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