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Lot 119
EINSTEIN, ALBERT. 1879-1955. Autograph Letter Signed ("A. Einstein") 1 p, 4to, March 31, 1926, n.p.,
4 June 2014, 13:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$9,375 inc. premium
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EINSTEIN, ALBERT. 1879-1955.
Autograph Letter Signed ("A. Einstein") 1 p, 4to, March 31, 1926, n.p., in German, to Hans Reichenbach, old folding creases, a few tiny edge chips, and two small spots in blank lower margin, two-hole punch at left margin.
"NATURALLY I FOUND A FEW FLIES IN THE OINTMENT": EINSTEIN CRITIQUES A COLLEAGUE'S FORAY INTO PHYSICS. A prominent thinker and lecturer on the philosophy of science and an attendee of Einstein's lectures on the theory of relativity in Berlin from 1917 to 1920, Reichenbach had by the time of this letter published several works on the philosophical implications of relativity, including Relativitätstheorie und Erkenntnis apriori [The theory of relativity and a priori knowledge; 1920] and Axiomatik der relativistischen Raum-Zeit-Lehre [Axiomatization of the theory of relativity; 1924]. However, an attempt at theoretical physics that he had shared with Einstein is neatly dispatched in the present letter. Einstein writes, in part (translated): "And so you have entered the fray amongst theoretical physicists, and in a bad spot at that. Naturally I immediately found a few flies in the ointment. First of all, the Ansatz (approach) [formula inserted] is rather arbitrary. Secondly, there is no corresponding metric to your [... Γ formula]; in this case it is unnatural to ascribe a metric to the summand γ of Γ. Thirdly, your equation of motion has no physical meaning, because it represents the behavior of matter only for one value of the relationship between electrical and ponderable density. And finally, the theory is not a connection of electricity and gravitation since there is no mathematically unified field equation here that delivers simultaneously the field law of gravitation and that of electromagnetism...." He closes the letter with a bit of advice: "I would not publish this; otherwise the same thing will happen to you as it did to me, that one would have to disown one's own children."
We are grateful for the assistance of Dr. Diana Kormos Buchwald, general editor of the Einstein Papers Project, in cataloguing this lot.
"NATURALLY I FOUND A FEW FLIES IN THE OINTMENT": EINSTEIN CRITIQUES A COLLEAGUE'S FORAY INTO PHYSICS. A prominent thinker and lecturer on the philosophy of science and an attendee of Einstein's lectures on the theory of relativity in Berlin from 1917 to 1920, Reichenbach had by the time of this letter published several works on the philosophical implications of relativity, including Relativitätstheorie und Erkenntnis apriori [The theory of relativity and a priori knowledge; 1920] and Axiomatik der relativistischen Raum-Zeit-Lehre [Axiomatization of the theory of relativity; 1924]. However, an attempt at theoretical physics that he had shared with Einstein is neatly dispatched in the present letter. Einstein writes, in part (translated): "And so you have entered the fray amongst theoretical physicists, and in a bad spot at that. Naturally I immediately found a few flies in the ointment. First of all, the Ansatz (approach) [formula inserted] is rather arbitrary. Secondly, there is no corresponding metric to your [... Γ formula]; in this case it is unnatural to ascribe a metric to the summand γ of Γ. Thirdly, your equation of motion has no physical meaning, because it represents the behavior of matter only for one value of the relationship between electrical and ponderable density. And finally, the theory is not a connection of electricity and gravitation since there is no mathematically unified field equation here that delivers simultaneously the field law of gravitation and that of electromagnetism...." He closes the letter with a bit of advice: "I would not publish this; otherwise the same thing will happen to you as it did to me, that one would have to disown one's own children."
We are grateful for the assistance of Dr. Diana Kormos Buchwald, general editor of the Einstein Papers Project, in cataloguing this lot.