Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

Autograph manuscript, partial draft for the paper 'Five-dimensional representation of gravitation and electricity', [1941].

In pencil, one page, 252 x 202mm. Provenance: annotated in pencil and pen on verso: 'Work of Albert Einstein / done weekend that he spent in our home in Old Field South with his sister, and Mrs. Rita Konenkov & Bishops [i.e. the local artist Marjorie Bishop and her family]. Summer of 1941 – while we were west. U. Fuller / Setauket. L[ong] I[sland] / NY' – Early American History Auctions, 24 April 2005, lot 58 (part lot).

Einstein in five dimensions. 'Five-dimensional representation of gravitation and electricity', co-authored with Einstein's assistants, Peter Bergmann and Valentine Bargmann, was published in the Theodore von Kármán Anniversary Volume (Pasadena, California Institute of Technology), pp. 212–25. A unified field theory derived from the Kaluza-Klein theory, the paper is a modification based on making the fifth dimension in the theory physically real, but bound up so small as to be unobservable. The boxed equation towards the top of the page corresponds with equation 18 of the paper, while the phrase 'man soll bewissen...' appears in the condition on p.216 where Einstein reduces the normal Kaluza theory.

'Mrs Konenkov' is Margarita Konenkova (1895-1980), with whom Einstein conducted a relationship at this time: the fact that she was still married to the sculptor Sergey Konenkov is slightly less sensational than the imputation that she was a Russian spy at the time.

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