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Lot 59
EINSTEIN, ALBERT. 1879-1955. Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein") with Autograph Postscript, in German, 2 pp recto and verso,
21 September 2015, 13:00 EDT
New YorkSold for US$13,750 inc. premium
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EINSTEIN, ALBERT. 1879-1955.
Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein") with Autograph Postscript, in German, 2 pp recto and verso, 4to, Berlin, October 19, 1928, on personal letterhead, to Dr. Hans Reichenbach, two-hole punch at left margin, two tiny edge-tears at folding creases.
UNPUBLISHED LETTER DISCUSSING RELATIVITY. Einstein writes to Reichenbach (1891-1953), a colleague and important expositor of Relativity, to suggest to him a clearer way of explaining one aspect of his theory. He opens the letter by saying (in translation): "I think the logical presentation that you give of my theory is indeed possible, but it's not the simplest one." After providing a list of four possibilities for "increasing specialization regarding the distant comparison of vectors" he comments: "Of course one can also start with an affine connection and specialize either by introducing a metric or by introducing integrability conditions; i.e. do it the way you did. But this is less simple, less natural." He goes on to assert that "[t]he naturalness of the field of structure envisaged by me seems indisputable to me. I will only know in a few months whether this construction contains deeper traits of reality; for the problems needed to be solved to make this decision are not at all easy." The letter ends with a postscript in Einstein's hand, inviting Reichenbach and his wife to tea, noting "Schrödinger is supposed to come as well."
We are grateful for the assistance of Dr. Diana Kormos Buchwald, general editor of the Einstein Papers Project, in cataloguing this lot.
UNPUBLISHED LETTER DISCUSSING RELATIVITY. Einstein writes to Reichenbach (1891-1953), a colleague and important expositor of Relativity, to suggest to him a clearer way of explaining one aspect of his theory. He opens the letter by saying (in translation): "I think the logical presentation that you give of my theory is indeed possible, but it's not the simplest one." After providing a list of four possibilities for "increasing specialization regarding the distant comparison of vectors" he comments: "Of course one can also start with an affine connection and specialize either by introducing a metric or by introducing integrability conditions; i.e. do it the way you did. But this is less simple, less natural." He goes on to assert that "[t]he naturalness of the field of structure envisaged by me seems indisputable to me. I will only know in a few months whether this construction contains deeper traits of reality; for the problems needed to be solved to make this decision are not at all easy." The letter ends with a postscript in Einstein's hand, inviting Reichenbach and his wife to tea, noting "Schrödinger is supposed to come as well."
We are grateful for the assistance of Dr. Diana Kormos Buchwald, general editor of the Einstein Papers Project, in cataloguing this lot.





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