An Einstein manuscript, offering a rare glimpse into the legendary physicist’s thinking leading up to his general theory of relativity, was auctioned off for 11.7 million euros ($18.2 million). Christie’s estimates that the manuscript is worth between two and three million euros. One of only two working documents he used to develop his famous theory, the 54 pages of paper were half-filled with Einstein’s handwriting.
In addition to laying the foundation for modern cosmology, his theory of relativity is at the core of GPS navigation technology. In 1913 and 1914, Swiss physicist Michele Besso, a close friend and co-author of Einstein’s, kept the documents. It is also noteworthy because working documents by Einstein from before 1919 are extremely rare, said Vincent Belloy, an auctioneer.
Einstein’s manuscript, written in black ink on wrinkled, lightly yellowed paper, challenged the popular image of him as an absolute genius, because even he made mistakes. ‘Einstein makes errors in this manuscript, and I think this actually adds to its greatness because we see the persistence, the thought that was in the process of being built, that is corrected and redirected,’ Mr. Belloy said.
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Einstein’s handwritten letter mentioning his famous E=mc2 equation sold for approximately one million euros in the United States in May, more than three times its estimated value. Einstein revolutionized modern physics in 1915 with his general theory of relativity, which describes gravity as the geometric distortion of space and time. An auction house did not disclose the name of the buyer.
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