A historic letter penned by the renowned physicist Albert Einstein, which played a pivotal role in ushering in the nuclear age, was sold for $3.9 million (around Rs Rs 32 crore) at a Christie’s auction. The original letter, part of the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library’s collection in New York, holds immense significance in shaping history. Sent in 1939, it eventually reached then-US President Franklin Roosevelt, sparking a chain of events that would lead to the development of the world’s first atomic bomb – a decision that Einstein would later lament as his “one great mistake.”
In the letter, Einstein cautioned the US President that Germany could be advancing nuclear weapons research, stressing that uranium “may be turned into a new and important source of energy” and warned of the possibility of “extremely powerful bombs” being developed. The plea urged the US to expedite its research. This marked the beginning of the Manhattan Project during World War II, which led to the creation of the world’s first atomic bomb.
Einstein also warned that while “such bombs” might be too heavy for air transport, they could still be delivered by boat, posing a great threat to ports and surrounding areas. He recommended “some contact be established” between the US government and a group of physicists who are already working on “the subject of chain reactions.”
“This has been described as one of the most influential letters in history,” Peter Klarnet, senior specialist for Americana, books and manuscripts at Christie‘s, said in a statement.
The recent sale of Einstein-signed letters, while significant, did not set a record for items linked to the renowned physicist. In an earlier auction, Christie’s had sold one of Einstein’s manuscripts for a much higher price of $13 million. Though Einstein didn’t write the letter, his signature gave it added importance because of his worldwide fame.
The particular copy, which sold on September 10, was the only version in private hands, according to Christie’s. According to Business Insider, it was originally part of an extensive collection of the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen. He had purchased it in 2002 for $2.1 million. As per a report in The Guardian, before Allen, the letter belonged to publisher Malcolm Forbes, who acquired it from the estate of Hungarian physicist Leo Szilard, the actual writer of the letter, with Einstein’s signature.
Christie’s has not revealed the identity of the letter’s new owner. Both Szilard and Einstein were Jewish scientists who fled Europe during Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. Though they initially supported nuclear research as a way to counter the threat from Germany, their views changed after the war.
“Woe is me,” Einstein is believed to have said when he learned about the attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan that killed about 2,00,000 people in 1945.
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