God, infidelity and steam engines subjects of Einstein's letters up for sale

zwiebel · Jun 11, 2015

The largest ever collection of Albert Einstein's private letters is going up for sale at auction in California, Thursday. The letters, which are handwritten and typed, and in English and in German, provide a rare glimpse into the personal life of the famous physicist. They also reveal he did believe in God, contrary to the widely-held notion he was an atheist.

In one letter, Einstein urged one of his sons to get more serious about geometry. In another, he consoled a friend who recently discovered her husband's infidelity. In still another to an uncle on his 70th birthday, Einstein recalled how the toy steam engine the uncle gave him years ago had prompted a lifelong interest in science.

The 27 letters are expected to fetch from $500,000 to $1 million.

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/2...ock?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter

Nova · Jun 11, 2015

Why did people assume Einstein was an atheist?

If *I* can believe in God and also respect scientific discovery, why can't a genius like Einstein reconcile the two?

If I may speculate an answer to my own question, I think it was once common to assume that one must be a member of a large sect (Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, etc.) OR be an atheist. But now we know there are almost as many concepts of the divine as there are human beings.

zwiebel · Jun 13, 2015

The 27 letters - sold individually - fetched $420,000. The highest price was for a letter Einstein wrote to his son, explaining the connection between the theory of relativity and the atomic bombs dropped at Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan in WW2.

Second and third highest prices were Einstein's letters explaining his thoughts on God.

http://losangeles.cbslocal.com/2015/06/12/einsteins-theory-of-relativity-letter-sold-for-62500/

God, infidelity and steam engines subjects of Einstein's letters up for sale

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