Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein") with Autograph Postscript, in German

Einstein, Albert, German-born physicist, humanitarian and Nobel Prize winner; promulgator of the General Theory of Relativity (1879-1955).

Published by Berlin, October 19, 1928

About this Item

4to. 2 pp. Punch holes. On his personal letterhead. 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.".

Seller Inventory # 60688

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Typed Letter Signed ("A. Einstein") with Autograph Postscript, in German
• Publisher: Berlin, October 19, 1928
• Seller catalogs:
  • Autographen: Wissenschaft