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Auction archive: Lot number 81

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...

Auction 04.10.2002
4 Oct 2002
Estimate
US$500,000 - US$700,000
Price realised:
US$559,500
Auction archive: Lot number 81

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...

Auction 04.10.2002
4 Oct 2002
Estimate
US$500,000 - US$700,000
Price realised:
US$559,500
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 (10¾ x 8 3/8 in.), leaf [10-11] an oblong folded sheet bearing unpublished partial diagrams and calculations on its verso (counted in above total), irregular partial pagination, now arranged as published in Collected Papers , one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 THE EINSTEIN-BESSO MANUSCRIPT: A GLIMPSE BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF THE WIZARD The Einstein-Besso manuscript is a set of research notes produced by Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and his closest friend and confidant Michele Besso (1873-1955). They are from the period 1913-1914, when Einstein was still developing his general theory of relativity. Einstein first published the theory in the form in which physicists still use it today in the last of a series of four papers in the Proceedings of the Berlin Academy of Science in November 1915. Manuscript material such as the Einstein-Besso manuscript offers historians and philosophers of science a window into how Einstein arrived at his theory. A BRIEF CHARACTERIZATION OF THE EINSTEIN-BESSO MANUSCRIPT AND ITS IMPORTANCE There are only two manuscripts still extant with research notes documenting Einstein's work toward the general theory of relativity. These two manuscripts are the Zurich Notebook of late 1912/early 1913 and the Einstein-Besso manuscript, the bulk of which stems from June 1913. Of these two manuscripts, only the latter is in private hands. The Zurich Notebook is part of the Einstein Archives at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The manuscript consists of roughly 50 pages, about half of them in Einstein's hand, the other half in Besso's. There is no continuous numbering, which makes it hard to establish the exact order of the pages. The manuscript, which was found in the Besso Nachlass , was brought to the attention of the editors of the Einstein Papers Project in 1988. It was published in 1995, both in transcription and in facsimile, with extensive annotation in Vol. 4 of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein . In the summer of 1998, fourteen pages closely related to the manuscript were discovered and there might well be more. These pages, still in the possession of Besso's heirs, do not have any entries by Einstein and are all in Besso's hand. It documents Besso's efforts to complete the work he had begun with Einstein. The aim of most o

Auction archive: Lot number 81
Auction:
Datum:
4 Oct 2002
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Rockefeller Center
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 THE EINSTEIN-BESSO MANUSCRIPT: A GLIMPSE BEHIND THE CURTAIN OF THE WIZARD The Einstein-Besso manuscript is a set of research notes produced by Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and his closest friend and confidant Michele Besso (1873-1955). They are from the period 1913-1914, when Einstein was still developing his general theory of relativity. Einstein first published the theory in the form in which physicists still use it today in the last of a series of four papers in the Proceedings of the Berlin Academy of Science in November 1915. Manuscript material such as the Einstein-Besso manuscript offers historians and philosophers of science a window into how Einstein arrived at his theory. A BRIEF CHARACTERIZATION OF THE EINSTEIN-BESSO MANUSCRIPT AND ITS IMPORTANCE There are only two manuscripts still extant with research notes documenting Einstein's work toward the general theory of relativity. These two manuscripts are the Zurich Notebook of late 1912/early 1913 and the Einstein-Besso manuscript, the bulk of which stems from June 1913. Of these two manuscripts, only the latter is in private hands. The Zurich Notebook is part of the Einstein Archives at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The manuscript consists of roughly 50 pages, about half of them in Einstein's hand, the other half in Besso's. There is no continuous numbering, which makes it hard to establish the exact order of the pages. The manuscript, which was found in the Besso Nachlass , was brought to the attention of the editors of the Einstein Papers Project in 1988. It was published in 1995, both in transcription and in facsimile, with extensive annotation in Vol. 4 of The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein . In the summer of 1998, fourteen pages closely related to the manuscript were discovered and there might well be more. These pages, still in the possession of Besso's heirs, do not have any entries by Einstein and are all in Besso's hand. It documents Besso's efforts to complete the work he had begun with Einstein. The aim of most o

Auction archive: Lot number 81
Auction:
Datum:
4 Oct 2002
Auction house:
Christie's
New York, Rockefeller Center
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