ALS in German, signed “Albert,” one page both sides, 8.75 x 11, January 28, 1926. Letter to his ex-wife Mileva Maric, in which Einstein bluntly pours out his frustration with his son Hans Albert’s prospective marriage to an older woman, and then expresses his views on the “thorny” state of theoretical physics, despite the success of his Relativity Theory. In part (translated): "It’s OK if you borrow some extra money in Zurich. Regarding Albert I’m very concerned…I believe that the girl has him under thumb and that he is too naive to really assess the situation. We have to do everything we can to avoid the worst. The young Haber is already married, but to an intelligent, fine girl from a healthy family. That’s what I would like too…I didn’t really like Dolly very much. I liked her mother more. She is pretty for her age but a superficial average person. You find plenty of them in the big city. Addressing his theory: The Relativity Theory has now been experimentally proven, but the issue of the connection of gravitation and electricity is shipwrecked, at least in my opinion. Theoretical physics is currently enormously thorny. I’m glad that the boys are interested in other things. I’m curious what Tetel’s going to choose. But we shouldn’t talk to him about it too much or it will be too much pressure and he won’t be able to handle it…I remember how heavy the thought of a future profession had weighed on me…It is not that difficult if you are not fishing for praise but are content with being useful…It’s really important that he gets away from home because it’s in his nature to not be very practical and to not be independent. He might not resemble me physically, but his character is very similar to mine." In fine condition, with a single central horizontal and vertical mailing fold.
The first tests of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity were performed by Sir Arthur Eddington during a total solar eclipse in 1919, and his findings offered the first experimental proof of the theory. Einstein became a celebrity overnight, and he received the Nobel Prize in 1921. During the 1920s, Einstein turned his sights on developing the Unified Field Theory, an attempt to explain the nature of gravity in terms of the laws of electromagnetism. The ideas he put forward conflicted with the emerging understanding of quantum mechanics, which put him at odds with much of the physics community at large; these "thorny" disagreements led to a famous falling out with fellow Nobel winner Niels Bohr. Although he continued to work on the “shipwrecked” Unified Field Theory for the rest of his life, Einstein was never able to satisfactorily master the problem—it remains unsolved to this day. Boasting excellent personal and professional content, this is an amazing letter by one of the greatest geniuses to ever live.
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