Berlin, 24 August 1916

Name: On gravitational waves and Planck's formula
Brand: Berlin, 24 August 1916
Price: 26000.00 USD
Availability: SoldOut

Price Realised USD 32,500

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USD 6,000 - USD 9,000

Closed: 6 Dec 2017

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On gravitational waves and Planck's formula

Berlin, 24 August 1916

Price Realised USD 32,500

Closed: 6 Dec 2017

Price Realised USD 32,500

Closed: 6 Dec 2017

Details Lot Essay More from

Albert Einstein (1879-1955). Autograph correspondence card signed (‘Albert’) to Michele Besso, [postmarked Berlin, 24 August 1916].

In German, 1½ pages, 140 x 90mm. Address panel bearing Einstein’s autograph return address (‘Absender: A. Einstein’).

Please note this lot is the property of a private consignor.

Published in Pierre Speziali (ed.) Albert Einstein. Michele Besso. Correspondance 1903-1955. Paris: Hermann, 1972. No. 24

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Lot Essay

'The papers on gravitational waves and Planck's formula have been waiting at your house for a while. You will enjoy the latter. The derivation is purely quantic and yields Planck's formula. In connection to this it can be convincingly demonstrated that the elementary processes of emission and absorption are directed processes. One has only to examine the (Brownian) motion of a molecule (in the sense of that derivation) in a radiation field. In this analysis ... there is no undulatory theory consideration either'. Einstein is pleased to hear that his estranged wife's condition is slowly improving: 'Although if, as seems rather likely, it is cerebral tuberculosis, a quick end would be better than long suffering'. His eldest son, Hans Albert, does not write to him, and his attitude to his father 'has gone below freezing point. In his place at his age in the prevailing conditions I would no doubt have reacted in the same way'.