Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - photo 1
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - photo 2

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Lot 323
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Starting price
£ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1109124
Lot 323 | Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Estimate value
£ 10 000 – 15 000
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Autograph manuscript of scientific calculations, n.d. [c.1950]
One page, 282 x 215mm, pencil numbering ‘#19’ (watermark of Whitings mutual bond rag content); [with] a reprint of A. Einstein and E.G. Straus, ‘A generalization of the relativistic theory of gravitation, II’, Annals of Mathematics, 47 (4), October 1946, inscribed on front cover to 'Mr. J. Zeitlin' by Ernst [Gabor] Straus. Provenance: Sotheby’s, 30 May 1979, lot 49 (part).

Einstein in pursuit of unified field theory. A densely mathematical manuscript comprising 21 lines of equations, followed by a brief phrase in German giving the definition of three magnitudes by which the preceding terms are expressed.

Einstein devoted the last thirty years of his life to the quest to combine general relativity and Maxwell’s theory of electromagnetism into a single physical and mathematical framework which would account for all of the then-known fundamental forces of nature – a ‘unified field theory’. Although his early attempts in the 1920s focused on ‘distant parallelism’, he later concentrated on an approach treating both the metric tensor and the affine connection as fundamental fields, often introducing an element of asymmetry (in variance to the theory of general relativity). Einstein often complained of the heavy mathematical burden imposed by this approach, as demonstrated in the present manuscript.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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