A rare manuscript by Albert Einstein containing preparatory work for his theory of relativity could fetch up to £2.5 million at auction this week.
The 54-page ‘Einstein-Besso manuscript’ was handwritten in 1913 and 1914 in Zurich, Switzerland, by 34-year-old Einstein and his friend, Swiss engineer Michele Besso.
It’s estimated to sell for somewhere between two and three million euros (£1.67 million to £2.5 million), according to Christie’s, which is hosting the sale on behalf of the Aguttes auction house in Paris.
The famous Einstein theory of relativity was published November 1915. It revolutionized theoretical physics as well as astronomy in the twenty-first century.
Christie’s Paris auction houses displays one page of the Einstein/Besso manuscript. It is a 54-page work manuscript by Albert Einstein, Michele Besso, and was written between June 1913 – early 1914. The manuscript documents an essential stage in developing the theory of relativity.
As they developed the theory of general relativity, Michele Besso & Albert Einstein made calculations based on their papers
Christie’s says that the Einstein-Besso manuscript is a fascinating glimpse into the thinking of 20th century scientist, leading to the development of the theory.
However, the formulas found in this manuscript did not solve the problem. The equations were reformulated in 1915 and proved to be successful.
Christie’s stated that “This manuscript is undoubtedly the most important Einstein manuscript to ever come up for auction.”
It’s not the first time the auction house has had the item – in 2002 it sold it for $559,500 (around £357,000 at the time) to a European dealer, according to Physics Today at the time.
But this figure could be dwarfed by the new sale price by the end of bidding, which starts on Tuesday, November 23.
Christie’s said it was thanks to Besso that the manuscript – which came to light in 1988 – was preserved for posterity.
It was almost a miracle, since it would not have been possible for the German-born genius to keep what he thought to be a basic working document.
The auction house states that if the manuscript had remained in Einstein’s possession it would have almost certainly been destroyed.
Einstein was trying to find out if his theory could explain Mercury’s anomaly in precession.
Etienne Klein, French astrophysicist and French astrophysicist said that “The present manuscript documents Einstein testing the first theory”.
“The general theory is relativity was published in November 1915 by Einstein. It’s basically a new way to understand gravitation.
“Thanks to this theory it wasn’t understood as an force that applied on or between objects in space but as a deformation spacetime geometry.
“It’s very moving to see it before us. Einstein didn’t always save his drafts.
“It was Michele Besso who loved his friend that preserved the manuscript and gave it to us.
A page from the preparatory manuscript, which Einstein worked on with his friend at the age of 34. The background features Einstein.
Christie’s Paris auction house presented pages from one of the preparatory books a day prior to being auctioned
Christie’s notes that the “extraordinary” document is one among only two scientific manuscripts that survive from the crucial period when the theory was born.
Another one, known as the Zurich notebook from late 1912/early1913 is currently at the Einstein Archives of Hebrew University.
Einstein-Besso has 26 pages written in Einstein’s hands, Besso 25 pages and three pages with contributions from each collaborator.
You will find a lot of pages that contain extensive corrections or whole sections missing from the calculations.
A sheet of paper has had its lower section torn from one sheet, however this was most likely the work of one of these men.
Vincent Belloy from Christie’s is a books specialist and holds pages of the manuscript. It’s not the first time the auction house has had the item – in 2002 it sold it for $559,500 (around £357,000 at the time) to a European dealer
This Einstein-Besso manuscript contains 26 pages of Einstein’s handwriting and 25 pages in Besso’s. It also has three pages that contain entries from each collaborator.
Einstein died at the age of 76 in 1955. He is widely regarded as one of the most important physicists of all time and revolutionized his field through the theory of relativity.
Einstein wrote three reasons why he abandoned the older version in letters shortly after the November 1915 publication of his historical papers.
It was incorrect for Mercury’s perihelion motion. Another was because it was not compatible with relativity of rotation.
Christie’s report states, “The methods developed in this manuscript were used to perform these calculations. They were then taken virtually unchanged in November 1915 to calculate the perihelion advance predicted in the general theory in its final form.”
Einstein discovered that the final theory was able to explain the entire effect not explained by Newtonian theory.
He later shared with a colleague that he had been so thrilled about the result it made him feel dizzy.
EINSTEIN’S GENERAL THEORY ABOUT RELATIVITY
Albert Einstein (pictured) released his General Theory of Relativity, 1915.
Albert Einstein discovered in 1905 that all observers that are not accelerating could follow the laws of Physics. He also determined that light speed in vacuum is independent of motion. This theory became known as special relativity.
This revolutionary work provided a new framework to all of physics and suggested new concepts for space and time.
After spending 10 years trying acceleration into the theory, he finally published general relativity theory in 1915.
It was found that large objects can cause distortions in space-time which are felt as gravity.
You can think of it as a large rubber sheet that has a bowling ball on the center.
The original documents relating to Einstein’s prediction that gravitational waves would exist are shown in this picture. They were taken at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University.
The ball twists the sheet and creates gravity.
Because of this effect, any object near the body will fall towards it.
Einstein believed that two huge bodies would cause a ripple of space-time that could be detected on Earth.
This was demonstrated most recently in Interstellar, the blockbuster film.
A segment in which the crew visited a world that was caught by a massive black hole caused it to cause time to slow dramatically.
While crew on the planet are young, those who were on board the ship had decades of experience.