Albert Einstein's Rare Letter With E=mc? Formula Goes On Sale For ?2.8 Crore

A handwritten letter by Albert Einstein that contains his famous 'E = mc?' formula of mass-energy equivalence has been put up for sale at a price tag of ?282,000.

Getty Images

Also Read: Albert Einstein's 143rd Birthday: Rare Pics, Famous Quotes By ¡®Father Of Physics¡¯

The letter was addressed to Polish-American physicist, Ludwik Silberstein who had worked with him on Einstein¡¯s theory of general relativity (reported first by Daily Mail).

The letter (after being translated to English) tells Silberstein that his question ¡°can be answered from the E = mc? formula without any erudition.¡±

He adds, ¡°If E is the energy of your system consisting of the two masses, E? the energy of the masses when they approach infinite distance, then the system's mass defect is E? - E / c2.¡±

He further explains that one must look for a theory that contains the correct unification of gravitation and electricity.

The letter is currently being auctioned off by Silberstein¡¯s great-great-grandchildren through a popular auction firm, RR Auction.

Also Read: Scientist Prove Einstein's Theory Right, After 30 Years Of Watching Star Near Black Hole

RR Auctions

RR Auctions executive vice president, Bobby Livingston, said in a statement, ¡°'It's an important letter from both a holographic and a physics point of view, as it shows Einstein's thinking on one of the most basic of all physical problems. Furthermore, the equation E is equal to m c-squared, in which energy is put equal to mass multiplied by the velocity of light squared, showed that a very small amount of mass may be converted into a very large amount of energy, and vice versa.¡±

Also Read: Scientists Discover Never-Before-Seen 5th Force Of Nature, Craziest Thing Since Einstein Theory

This one-page letter is being auctioned in a timed sale that is expected to end next week, around May 20. This also happens to be only one of the four known instances of the mass-energy equivalence formula to have been written down by Einstein himself.

Another letter written by Einstein, known as the ¡®God¡¯s letter¡¯ was sold in an auction for $3 million in 2018. He, in the letter, spoke about religion, specifically Judaism and how it is a ¡°childish superstition born out of human weakness.¡±