Albert Einstein (1879-1955).

Autograph manuscript, gravitational equations, n.d. [ca. 1948-49].

Seven lines on one page, 280 x 215mm. Provenance: John G. Kemeny (Einstein's mathematical assistant for 1948-9: photocopy letter from Robert J. Oppenheimer appointing him a member of the Institute of Advanced Study for that year); and by descent.

Equations in unified field theory. The calculations use as their point of departure a definition of the tensor g_ik, which Einstein used to define the generalised gravitational field. Einstein's search for a unified field theory, which would unite his general theory of relativity with electromagnetism, thus describing all the forces of nature in a single theory, preoccupied him from the 1920s until the end of his life.

John G. Kemeny (1926-1992) is best known as one of the co-inventors of the BASIC computer programming language. Having fled Hungary with his family in 1940, he took a year off his undergraduate studies at Princeton to work for the Manhattan Project under Richard Feynman; his work as Einstein's assistant was a sabbatical from his doctoral studies. He was to be professor of mathematics, and subsequently an influential president, at Dartmouth College.

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