Einstein manuscript given to Nobel Prize Museum

(18 Jun 2019) A handwritten manuscript by Albert Einstein was donated on Tuesday to the Nobel Prize Museum in Stockholm.
The article was published in December 1922, making it Einstein's first work published after receiving the Nobel Prize.
"This document provides a really unique opportunity for us to tell the story about Albert Einstein and at a moment in time when he just received word about having been awarded the Nobel Prize," said Erika Lanner, Director of the Nobel Prize Museum.
The manuscript incorporates a variant of Einstein's 1915 general theory of relativity and was a response to a paper published by mathematician Erich Trefftz.
"It shows above all the effects of Einstein's theories on the scientific community," said Ulf Larsson, a curator at the Nobel Prize Museum. "Lots of other scientists and mathematicians worked on developing his theories and testing them and so on. And this contributed to the progress of science."
Albert Einstein was awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his Services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect," which was decided and announced in the autumn of 1922.
"Albert Einstein was a little bit like Bob Dylan," said Larsson, "he didn't respond to the announcement that he had received the Nobel Prize. He was traveling and he received the telegram. But he didn't comment on it in any way until several months later."
The manuscript will go on public display in the Autumn and will join other letters from the Nobel laureate, including a letter to his sons detailing how the prize money was to spent.
A second letter, written at the end of his life, is an answer to a Swedish school teacher asking about the limitations of mathematics to explain the world.
"I find it fascinating that Albert Einstein actually took the time to write a reply," said Larsson, noting that Einstein's fame had long transcended the world of science.
"He probably received thousands of letters like this but actually he replied to this."

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