Einstein's theory of relativity was the foundation of the document. Credit: Christie's
A rare 54-page manuscript co-written by Albert Einstein and his lifelong friend and engineer Michele Besso, in which the pair lay out the foundations of Einstein's famous theory of general relativity, will be auctioned in Paris on Tuesday.
The document is expected to sell for between $2.4 million and $3.5 million, making it the most expensive piece of Einstein's writing ever sold.
The most valuable Einstein manuscript ever to come to auction is this one.
You can see Einstein's theory of relativity in real life.
The document is special because of its subject matter. The manuscript was written between June 1913 and early 1914, and was intended to explain a mystery about Mercury's path through the universe.
According to Christie's, the manuscript contains 26 pages written in Einstein's hand, 24 pages written in Besso's and three pages written by the two. Einstein excitedly wrote "stimmt!" in the margins of one of his marginal notes, when he commented on his own work, according to Christie's.
Einstein's equations of general relativity are still used to describe the relationships between objects in space today, despite the pair's failure to explain the discrepancy in Mercury's orbit.
Christie's said that the manuscript is exceptional for its rarity. Besso preserved much of his work with Einstein, but Einstein rarely kept drafts of his own writing. Christie's said that this manuscript is one of the two surviving drafts that show the foundations of general relativity.
Einstein's writings are often sold for million-dollar sums. A letter from Einstein to a rival physicist was sold for over $1 million. Two short notes written by Einstein to a bellboy at a Tokyo hotel sold for more than $1 million.
Live Science published the original article.
