EINSTEIN ALBERT: (1879-1955)

EINSTEIN ALBERT: (1879-1955)
EINSTEIN ALBERT: (1879-1955) German-born theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner for Physics, 1921. A good A.L.S., Einstein, to one side of a plain postcard, n.p. (Zurich), n.d. (19th August 1910), to Dr. Ludwig Hopf, in German. Einstein writes both a scientific and social letter to his assistant, collaborator and fellow lover of music, making reference to a dispute with another physicist over the rigid bodies in the theory of relativity. Einstein informs Hopf that his wife and their newborn son are ‘still not doing as expected’ so they have ceased their musical evenings until further notice, remarking ‘This also makes me homebound. If you come to see me, I am always happy’ and further writing ‘With Ignatowsky it is indeed as you suspected. He draws conclusions that contradict mine and wants my signature on them. But I have already sent him home and am currently busy with a remark about the rigid body that is destined for the annals, in which I am trying to clarify the situation through a very elementary consideration. If you come, I’ll show you this rather amusing thing’. Hand addressed by Einstein to the verso. A letter of good content and association. One heavy crease to the lower part of the letter, not affecting the text or signature, G

Ludwig Hopf (1884-1939) German-Jewish theoretical physicist. Early in his career, in 1909, Hopf was hired by Einstein as his assistant at the University of Zurich and the two scientists became collaborators and co-authors. Their friendship was helped by the fact that both were music lovers and often played duets, Hopf being a talented pianist and Einstein a violinist.

Vladimir Ignatowski (1875-1942) Russian physicist who wrote some papers on special relativity and in 1910 was the first to try to derive the Lorentz transformation by group theory only using the relativity principle and without the postulate of the constancy of the speed of light.

Einstein’s first wife, the Serbian physicist and mathematician Mileva Maric (1875-1948), had given birth to their second son, Eduard ‘Tete’ Einstein, on 28th July 1910. At the age of 21 Eduard was diagnosed with schizophrenia and after his father’s emigration to the United States the two never saw each other again.