Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - photo 1

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Starting price
£ 100
Auction dateClassic
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +01:00
Auctioneer
CHRISTIE'S
Event location
United Kingdom, London
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 1109144
Lot 342 | Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Typed letter signed ('A. Einstein') to Cornelius Lanczos, 112 Mercer Street, Princeton, 9 July 1952
In German. One page, 280 x 216mm, Greek letter psi added by hand, blind stamped address. Provenance: Sotheby's, 26 November 1980, lot 167.

'We are born in a herd of buffalos, and must be happy if we are not prematurely trampled': on the difficulties of finding one's way in life, also mentioning the ongoing dispute with Schrödinger and Max Born over the 'Copenhagen Interpretation' of quantum physics. Einstein is delighted at the prospect of seeing Lanczos again after such a long interval, and congratulates him on his new appointment (in Dublin). 'I understand wholeheartedly your unease at the present circumstances here, but am all the more pleased to know that you are in a position that satisfies you professionally in every respect. This is the best thing achievable by us: we are born in a herd of buffalos, and must be happy if we are not prematurely trampled. I found the idea of a flight to Brazil rather comical. If you had only first got to know it rather better ... !'. Turning to his scientific work, Einstein admits to difficulties: 'With my theoretical aspirations I am still floating in the clouds and see no possibility of landing any facts on terra firma. I also see with some amusement how the unease in statistics is starting to reach even the Babbitts. Schrödinger has recently made the desperate attempt to reject Born's interpretation and to immediately proclaim the Ψ function as the complete description of the real facts'.

Lanczos had come under suspicion for possible communist affinities in McCarthyite America: this seems to have been the stimulus for him to move to Ireland in 1952, where he took over Erwin Schrödinger's position at the School of Theoretical Physics at the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies. Einstein's longstanding objection to the predominance of statistics in the Copenhagen Interpretation was famously summed up in his dictum 'God does not play dice'. The psi function represents the amplitude of the wave in Schrödinger's time wave equation.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
09.12.2023 12:00 – 17:00
10.12.2023 12:00 – 17:00
11.12.2023 09:00 – 20:00
12.12.2023 09:00 – 17:00
13.12.2023 09:00 – 17:00
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
Buyer Premium see on Website
Conditions of purchaseConditions of purchase

More from Creator

A signed photograph
A signed photograph
$100
On his family's applications for U.S. citizenship
On his family's applications for U.S. citizenship
$100
Writing to Mount Wilson astronomer Gustaf Stromberg
Writing to Mount Wilson astronomer Gustaf Stromberg
$100
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
£100
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
£100
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
£100
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
£100
Supporting Austrian Jewish educator Eugenie Schwarzwald
Supporting Austrian Jewish educator Eugenie Schwarzwald
$1 500

Related terms

Frequently asked questions

First of all, you should register to be able to purchase at auction. After confirming your email address, enter your personal information in your user profile, such as your first name, last name, and mail address. Choose a lot from the upcoming auction and the maximum amount you want to place on it. After confirmation of your choice, we will send your application by e-mail to the appropriate auction house. If the auction house accepts a request, it will participate in the auction. You can view the current status of a bid at any time in your personal account in the "Bids" section.
Auctions are performed by auction houses and each of the auction houses describes their terms of auction. You can see the texts in the section "Auction information".
The results of the auction are published within a few days after the end of the auction. In the top menu of the site, find the tab "Auctions". Click on it and you will be on the auction catalog page, where you can easily find the category "Results". After opening it, select the desired auction from the list, enter and view the current status of the interested lot.
The information about the auction winners is confidential. The auction winner will receive a direct notification from the auction house responsible with instructions for further action: an invoice for payment and the manner in which the goods will be received.
Each of the auction houses has its own payment policy for the won lots. All auction houses accept bank transfers, most of them accept credit card payments. In the near future you will find detailed information for each case in the section "Auction information" on the page of the auction catalog and the lot.
Shipment of the won lot depends on its size. Small items can be delivered by post. Larger lots are sent by courier. Employees of the auction houses will offer you a wide range to choose from.
No. The archive serves as a reference for the study of auction prices, photographs and descriptions of works of art.