Einstein's letter with E=mc² equation auctioned for mammoth $1.2M... but it's all relative

A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein that includes the equation he's colloquially best known for has been auctioned for more than $1.2 million. The Boston-based RR Auction sold the letter penned by Einstein in 1946 that contained the world-famous formula E=mc². The letter was part of correspondence to fellow physicist Ludwik Silberstein. The letter was originally expected to be auctioned for $400,000, but was sold for the price of $1,243,707.

Albert Einstein handwritten letter sold

The buyer was identified by the auction house as an anonymous document collector. Five parties were bidding for the letter but but once the price reached about $700,000, it became a two-party contest, reported AP citing Bobby Livingston, executive vice president at RR Auction. The auction house had expected it to sell for about $400,000. Einstein wrote in the letter on Princeton University letterhead, according to a translation provided by RR Auction. The letter was part of Silberstein’s personal archives, which were sold by his descendants. According to archivists at the Einstein Papers Project at Caltech, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, only three holograph examples are known and none of those are in private hands. This being fourth has been revealed to the public for the first time. 

"It's an important letter from both a holographic and a physics point of view."

(Image Credits: RRAuction)

(Image Credits: RRAuction)

In the letter, Einstein wrote, "Your question can be answered from the E=mc² formula, without any erudition. If E is the energy of your system consisting of the two masses, E0 the energy of the masses when they approach infinite distance, then the system’s mass defect is E0 - E / c2 ." The letter explained the mass-energy relationship and the source of the energy produced in the process of radioactive decay. As per RR Auction, it is an important letter from both a holographic and a physics point of view. The letter shows Einstein’s thinking on one of the most basic of all physical problems. 

Is this the biggest auction of one of Einstein's things?

In 2007, a note on happiness written by Einstein in a Tokyo hotel in 1922 fetched a price of $1.3 million while another note- that read "where there's a will, there's a way" fetched $240,000. Two other letters written later by him in his life fetched $33,600 and $9,600 in the same auction held at a Jerusalem auction house. 

And then, in 2018, a 1954 letter in which he wrote his thoughts about religion and God had fetched almost $2.9 at an auction at Christie's in New York.

Inputs and IMAGE from AP