Beschreibung:

EINSTEIN, ALBERT and MICHELE BESSO. Autograph manuscript, comprising a series of calculations using the early version ("Entwurf") of the field equations of Einstein's general theory of relativity, the aim of which was to test whether the theory could account for the well-known anomaly in the motion of the perihelion of Mercury. 26 pages in Einstein's hand; 25 pages in Besso's; 3 pages with entries of both collaborators (many pages with contributions of one to entries of the other). No place, [Berlin and Zurich], n.d. [mostly June 1913; additions from early 1914]. Published in Einstein, Collected Papers , 4:344-359 (introduction), 4:360-473 (transcription, with notes), and 4:630-682 (facsimile). 54 (of 56) pages, 4to, written in ink (a few portions by Besso in pencil), on 37 separate sheets of foolscap and squared paper of various types, mostly 273 x 212 mm. (10¾ x 8 3/8 in.), leaf [10-11] an oblong folded sheet bearing unpublished partial diagrams and calculations on its verso (counted in above total), irregular partial pagination, now arranged as published in Collected Papers , one sheet with lower portion torn away (probably by the collaborators), page [3] written on the back of a printed announcement (dated "Ende April 1913"), many pages with extensive corrections to the formulae or with whole sections of calculations crossed out, a few pages with minor corner defects, pp.[16-17] not present (these pages, in Besso's hand, are written on the verso of a letter from C.-E. Guye to Einstein, 31 May 1913, now in a private collection), p.[1] with minor rust markings, otherwise in fine condition for a working scientific manuscript. THE SEARCH FOR PROOF OF EINSTEIN'S GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY: THE EINSTEIN-BESSO CALCULATIONS OF THE PRECESSION OF THE PERIHELION OF MERCURY. ONE OF ONLY TWO SURVIVING WORKING SCIENTIFIC MANUSCRIPTS FROM THIS KEY PERIOD, AND THE MOST IMPORTANT SCIENTIFIC MANUSCRIPT OF EINSTEIN EVER TO BE OFFERED AT AUCTION A scientific manuscript on relativity, gravitation and planetary motion which is of fundamental importance in the development of the General Theory of Relativity. As one of only two working manuscripts from the period of the genesis of the general theory, it provides remarkable insight into Einstein's work and the complex mathematics in which the theory of relativity was conceived, expressed, and, in the November 1915 paper which ultimately resulted from this work, finally proven. As one biographer has written, the successful 1915 proof was "by far the strongest emotional experience in Einstein's scientific life, perhaps in all his life. Nature had spoken to him. He had to be right. Later he told Fokker that 'For a few days I was beside myself with excitement.' What he told de Haas is even more profoundly significant: when he saw that his calculations agreed with the unexplained astronomical observations, he had the feeling something actually snapped in him..." (Abraham Pais, 'Subtle is the Lord...' The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein, Oxford, 1982, 253.) The Einstein-Besso Manuscript, the Perihelion Motion of Mercury, and the Genesis of the General Theory of Relativity by Dr. Michel Janssen, Associate Editor of the Einstein Papers Project There are only two manuscripts still extant with research notes documenting Einstein's work toward the general theory of relativity, completed in November 1915: the so-called Zurich notebook of late 1912/early 1913 (now in the Einstein Archives at Hebrew University) and the Einstein-Besso manuscript, mostly dating from June 1913, which came to light in 1988. The aim of most of the calculations in the Einstein-Besso manuscript is to test whether the early version of the general theory of relativity (published by Einstein in June 1913) can account for the anomalous motion of the perihelion of Mercury. The results of these calculations were disappointing. The theory, as it stood, could account for only part of the discrepancy between observation and