Nato a Ulm, in Germania, nel 1879, Albert Einstein è il fisico più influente del XX secolo e, probabilmente, lo scienziato più famoso di tutti i tempi.
Dopo un’infanzia trascorsa tra la Germania meridionale, l’Italia e la Svizzera, si laureò alla Scuola Politecnica Federale (oggi nota come ETH) di Zurigo e lavorò per diversi anni presso l’Ufficio Federale Svizzero dei Brevetti a Berna: non fu legato ad alcuna istituzione accademica fino al 1908, quando ottenne un incarico di assistente all’Università di Berna.
Nel 1905, il suo annus mirabilis o «anno miracoloso», Einstein pubblicò quattro articoli rivoluzionari sulla relatività ristretta, sull’effetto fotoelettrico, sul moto browniano e sull’equivalenza massa-energia. La sua famosa equazione E = mc² nacque dal suo lavoro sulla relatività ristretta. Nel 1915, ormai stabilitosi a Berlino, pubblicò la sua teoria della relatività generale, che cambiò radicalmente la nostra comprensione della gravità: è stata descritta come «la teoria più bella della fisica». Nel 2021, Christie’s ha venduto il manoscritto Einstein-Besso, una delle prime fasi del suo lavoro sulla relatività generale, per 11.656.560 euro.
Hans Einstein's copy, on statistical mechanics
Albert Einstein, 1904
Annus mirabilis papers
Albert Einstein, 1905
Wave-Duality of Light
Einstein, Albert, 1909
Zur Quantentheorie der Strahlung, offprint issue
Albert Einstein, 1917
On the place of mathematics in physics
Albert Einstein, 1921
An attempt at a new unified theory
Albert Einstein, 28 July 1925
Letter to Michele Besso
Albert Einstein, 1952
Albert Einstein (1879-1955).
Autograph manuscript signed (‘A. Einstein‘), ‘Altes und Neues zur Feld‐Theorie‘, [Berlin, before 3 February 1929], with two pages of scientific workings. In German. 14 pages, 290 x 229mm.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Autograph letter signed ('Albert') to Michele Besso, Prague, 26 March [1912]
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955).
Autograph letter signed (‘A. Einstein’) to [Rudi W.] Mandl, [Princeton], 2 June 1936.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Two autograph letters signed ('Einstein' and 'A. Einstein') to Ludwig Hopf, [Prague, after 20 February 1912] and Zurich, 16 August 1912
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Series of 43 autograph letters signed ('Albert Einstein' (4), 'Albert' (23), the later letters with variations on the pet-name 'Johannzel', two letters lacking signature) to his first wife, Mileva Marić, [Zurich, Milan, Mettmenstetten, Melchtal, Winterthur, Schaffhausen and Bern, 16 February 1898 - ?19 September 1903]
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Autograph manuscript, 'Verallgemeinerung der relativistischen Gravitationstheorie II' (A generalisation of the relativistic theory of gravity), [1946]
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)
Autograph letter signed ('A. Einstein') to [Wander and Geertruida] de Haas ('Meine lieben De-Haasen!'), n.p. [Berlin], n.d. [before 15 November 1915].
The completion of the general theory of relativity
Berlin, 21 December 1915
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)
Autograph manuscript, n.p., n.d. [early 1940s], draft of a scientific paper on Unified Field Theory.
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)
'Über die von der molekularkinetischen Theorie der Wärme geforderte Bewegung von in ruhenden Flüssigkeiten suspendierten Teilchen.' Offprint from: Annalen der Physik , 4th Series, vol. 17. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1905.
God does not play dice
Princeton, 30 November 1949
'The great success of gravitation'
Berlin, 3 January 1916
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Autograph letter signed (with initials, 'A.E.') to Cornelius Lanczos, n.p., 21 March 1942
LORENTZ, Hendrik Antoon (1853-1928)
Large collection of scientific publications by the Dutch Nobel laureate, H.A. Lorentz, from his own private library.
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)
Autograph scientific manuscript incorporating a draft autograph statement signed (with initials, 'A.E'), 25 December 1925.
Closing in on general relativity
Zurich, March 1914
His 'boldest dreams' of general relativity
Berlin, 10 December 1915
'The universe only exists in one example'
Ahrenshoop (on the German Baltic coast), 20 August 1918
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)
‘Ist die Trägheit eines Körpers von seinem Energieinhalt abhängig?’ Offprint from: Annalen der Physik, 4th Series, vol. 18. Leipzig: Johann Ambrosius Barth, 1905
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Autograph manuscript signed (at conclusion, 'A. Einstein'), 'Einheitliche Feldtheorie von Gravitation und Elektrizität' [Unified Field Theory of Gravitation and Electricity], [Berlin, before 14 June 1928]
An attempt at a new unified theory
Geneva, 28 July 1925
Quantum equations
Zurich, 11 August 1926
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Revised galley proof sheets for The Meaning of Relativity in its original German text ( Vier Vorlesungen über Relativitätstheorie ), with a leaf of additional text in typescript, Berlin, 26 January - 7 February and 27 April 1922
Equations for a case in general relativity
Princeton, 14 May 1954
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)
Photograph signed ('A. Einstein') and inscribed to [A.C.] Robbins, 1951.
Michele Besso (1873-1955)
Autograph manuscript calculations and prose drafts on the perihelion of Mercury and the 'Entwurf' theory of general relativity, [June 1913 - 1916]
Quantum mechanics, field theory and relativity
Berlin, 30 October 1931
A 'dazzling demonstration' of the theory of general relativity
Berlin, 26 July 1920
EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955)
Autograph manuscript, section 3 of a paper on unified field theory, 'Spezialisierte Feldgleichungen für ein Feld, das einer Symmetriebedingung genügt' (Specialised field equations for a field satisfying a symmetry condition), n.p., n.d. [before 23 August 1943]
The 16-year-old prodigy
Aarau, 1895
On the nature of time, relativity and quantum theory
Princeton, 10 September 1952
His will and testament
Albert Einstein, May 1934
A dense exposition of unified field theory
Princeton, August 1942