Einstein’s document for theory of relativity gifted to Nobel Museum, Stockholm
In December 2018 a Swedish businessman purchased the German scientist Albert Einstein’s first published paper discussing his theory of relativity at an auction for 1.2 million krona ($124,062) (Published after he won the Nobel physics prize in 1922).
He kept his word to gift the antique document to the Nobel Museum in Stockholm which will be put up on display in Autumn 2019.
The document is a negation of an article by another Mathematician of Einstein’s time; Erich Trefftz debating about “the geometrical structure of the universe.”
In his paper, Einstein rejected the Trefftz hypothesis through complex equations. Trefftz who claimed to have found a static solution to the “General theory of relativity” was proved wrong. Einstein concluded it by stating,
“It became apparent… that Trefftz’s solution does not permit this physical interpretation at all.”
“This letter shows that even though Albert Einstein had received the Nobel prize, his physics was very much part of the debate among scientists at that time and Albert Einstein himself was also part of this debate,” Gustav Kallstrand, senior curator a the Nobel Prize museum, told AFP.
Although Einstein faced a lot of criticism and resistance in the world of science he still managed to win the Nobel Prize in 1922 for discovering ‘Photoelectric Effect.’
Physicist Max Van Laue owned the document till 1948, after which it started to pass in the hands of private collectors.
