Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Lot 331
15.12.2023 11:00UTC +00:00
Classic
Prix de départ
£ 100
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Lieu de l'événementRoyaume-Uni, London
Commissionsee on Website%
Archive
La vente aux enchères est terminée. Vous ne pouvez plus enchérir.
Archive
ID 1109133
Lot 331 | Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Valeur estimée
£ 4 000 – 6 000
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Typed letter signed ('A. Einstein') to Dr Cornelius Lanczos, Old Lyme, Connecticut, 14 September 1935
In German. 1¼ pages, 282 x 217mm, with autograph additions in black and green ink including two equations and three further mathematical terms. Provenance: Sotheby's, 26 November 1980, lot 157.

On a mathematical difficulty which 'cooled my confidence below freezing point': Einstein reflects on an article by Lanczos. Einstein expresses the great pleasure he has found in the 'beauty of the whole construction' of Lanczos's latest article: 'The fact that the pure Maxwellian case is excluded is actually in appearance only; for in k2=k1+ε you can make ε really infinitely small'. He goes on: 'The first field equation reminds me of a pain I felt in previous efforts that led to similar additions to the gravitational equations as yours (to a first approximation)', and he writes out the relevant equation. 'If this is a true relationship for Maxwell's field, then the right-hand side does not disappear for an electrostatic, centrally symmetric field. In particular, consider the 14 etc. component. You then get strange g24 g24 g34, which cooled my confidence below freezing point ... The fact that ga41 is obtained at all in such a static case goes against the grain for me, considering the dynamic nature of these components according to the phenomenological theory. Did that not give you serious concerns?'.

The early career of Cornelius (Cornel) Lanczos (1893-1974) was closely associated with Einstein: he sent his doctoral thesis to Einstein in 1921, his first significant result in 1924 was an exact solution of the Einstein field equation representing a cylindrically symmetric rigidly rotating configuration of dust particles, and in 1928-29 he served as Einstein's assistant. By the time of the present letter he was dividing his time between his home in Hungary and a visiting professorship in Lafayette, Indiana.
Adresse de l'enchère CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
Royaume-Uni
Aperçu
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
Téléphone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
E-mail
Commission see on Website
Conditions d'utilisationConditions d'utilisation

Plus du Créateur

A signed photograph
A signed photograph
$100
"Demostracion de la no existencia de campos gravitacionales sin singularidades de masa total no nula"
$5 500
An endorsed check to the United Jewish Appeal
An endorsed check to the United Jewish Appeal
$100
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
£18 000
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
£8 000
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
£7 000
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
£40 000
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)
£70 000

Termes connexes

?>