An important series of Albert Einstein's calculations, which were written down by the physicist as he struggled to accountfor an anomaly in Mercury's orbit while developing his theory about general relativity, will be up for auction for an eye-watering estimate at 3m.
Christies France and Aguttes will auction the manuscript in Paris on November 23rd for an estimate between 2m-3m. It documents a critical stage in the development theory of general relativity and is undoubtedly the most valuable Einstein manuscript ever sold at auction.
The manuscript was written between June 1913 to early 1914 by Einstein, his friend and collaborator Michele Besso. It contains 54 pages. 26 pages were written by Einstein, 25 by Bessos and 25 by Bessos. Three pages were added by each of them. It is covered in equations and calculations with extensive corrections, crossings-out and cross-outs. The pair tackle the anomaly in Mercury's orbit, which has been a problem for many decades. They use the early version field equations from Einsteins general theory.
In November, pages of Einsteins calculations will be up for auction. Photograph by Christie's Images Ltd
Because of the effects of other bodies in our solar system, the perihelion is the point in Mercury's orbit where the planet is closest the sun. This slow shift occurs. The theory could have been proved if Einstein and Bessos equations had shown the result of this observed shift. The manuscript was flawed in calculation. Einstein miscalculated the mass of sun's sun at page 28. This approach to general relativity was abandoned by Einstein in 1913 because he was concerned about its theoretical consistency.
When Besso left Zurich, he took the manuscript. He is the reason that the manuscript came down to us almost miraculously. Einstein wouldn't have kept what he considered a working document, according to Christies. This manuscript, together with a notebook dating from late 1912/early1913, is one of two remaining works that document the origin of general relativity. They are now housed in the Einstein archives at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
In September 1915 Einstein returned to this approach and finally created the valid field equations to support his new theory. He published four articles about the topic in November 2015. His third article proved that his theory was able to account for Mercury's anomalous perihelion, as the Einstein–Besso manuscript had hoped.
Christies stated that the human understanding of the workings and nature of the universe has been forever altered. The discovery of general relativity transformed our understanding of the workings and nature of the universe. It had consequences such as gravitational time dilation, light diflection, and gravitational waves. These are still being investigated today.
Adrien Legendre, Christies, stated that Einsteins autographs from the period before 1919 are very rare. It offers a fascinating insight into Einstein's work as well as a fascinating look into the mind and thoughts of the greatest scientist of all time.
