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Typed letter signed ('A. Einstein') to Richard G. Kieninger, 112 Mercer Street, Princeton, 3 July 1948
Details
Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Typed letter signed ('A. Einstein') to Richard G. Kieninger, 112 Mercer Street, Princeton, 3 July 1948
In English. One page, 281 x 217mm, on paper with Einstein's blind-stamped address. Housed in a custom cloth box. Provenance: Heritage, 8 April 2011, lot 34335.
The greatest scientist of the 20th century defends his greatest achievement: the theory of relativity.
'I have firm confidence that the theory of relativity is true and have never made a statement to the contrary. I have stated, however, that the allegation that only a dozen people are able to understand the theory is a "hoax"'.
Resistance to the theory of relativity was widespread from 1905 onwards: initially scientific and often inspired by attachment to the aether theory which relativity had superseded, in later decades it was increasingly driven by antisemitism (most notoriously in the so-called 'German Physics' of Nazi Germany) and conspiracy theories, including the claim that Einstein himself did not believe relativity to be true. Particular anxiety seems to have coalesced around the claim, articulated by the New York Times in 1919, that 'The foundations of all human thought have been undermined', and the inference that relativity could also be applied to morality and religion. A collection of various criticisms published under the title A Hundred Authors against Einstein (1931) prompted the wry response from Einstein that if he had been wrong, one author would have been enough. The "hoax" that Einstein had claimed only a dozen people could understand relativity seems to date back to around 1919 – Einstein had been regularly rebutting it to journalists as early as his 1921 visit to the USA, pointing out that most scientists should be able to understand relativity. Ironically, the recipient of the letter may himself be a notorious fraudster, if he can be identified with the Richard G. Kieninger (1927-2002) who went on to found townships in Illinois and Texas on the basis of apocalyptic prophecies contained in his autobiographical The Ultimate Frontier (1963).
Typed letter signed ('A. Einstein') to Richard G. Kieninger, 112 Mercer Street, Princeton, 3 July 1948
In English. One page, 281 x 217mm, on paper with Einstein's blind-stamped address. Housed in a custom cloth box. Provenance: Heritage, 8 April 2011, lot 34335.
The greatest scientist of the 20th century defends his greatest achievement: the theory of relativity.
'I have firm confidence that the theory of relativity is true and have never made a statement to the contrary. I have stated, however, that the allegation that only a dozen people are able to understand the theory is a "hoax"'.
Resistance to the theory of relativity was widespread from 1905 onwards: initially scientific and often inspired by attachment to the aether theory which relativity had superseded, in later decades it was increasingly driven by antisemitism (most notoriously in the so-called 'German Physics' of Nazi Germany) and conspiracy theories, including the claim that Einstein himself did not believe relativity to be true. Particular anxiety seems to have coalesced around the claim, articulated by the New York Times in 1919, that 'The foundations of all human thought have been undermined', and the inference that relativity could also be applied to morality and religion. A collection of various criticisms published under the title A Hundred Authors against Einstein (1931) prompted the wry response from Einstein that if he had been wrong, one author would have been enough. The "hoax" that Einstein had claimed only a dozen people could understand relativity seems to date back to around 1919 – Einstein had been regularly rebutting it to journalists as early as his 1921 visit to the USA, pointing out that most scientists should be able to understand relativity. Ironically, the recipient of the letter may himself be a notorious fraudster, if he can be identified with the Richard G. Kieninger (1927-2002) who went on to found townships in Illinois and Texas on the basis of apocalyptic prophecies contained in his autobiographical The Ultimate Frontier (1963).
Présenté par
Eugenio Donadoni
Senior Specialist, Medieval & Renaissance Manuscripts