Goodbye to airport security TSA issues urgent warning about fake USB chargers and public Wi-Fi that can steal your identity
Goodbye to one of the most hated features of the iPhone iOS 26 arrives with new features that mark a turning point
AI and fertility couple successfully have a baby thanks to artificial intelligence after years of not being able to conceive
Einstein (1953). A letter was written by one of the greatest scientists in history.He could have written it yesterday, despite the fact that more than 70 years have gone by, but we’ll discuss it later. New York then put it up for auction on June 24 of this year. This letter, which is believed to cost 140,000, is the scientist’s most straightforward stance on atomic bombs: he opposes them. He doesn’t want them at all.
Einstein denies having a major role in the Manhattan Project, saying he was only involved in signing a warning letter to President Roosevelt. He took this action because he was afraid Nazi Germany would succeed. Are you curious?
The origin of the document: a Japanese editor, a question, and an uncomfortable truth
In order to understand the origin of this letter, we must go back to 1952, when Einstein was asked a very direct and intimate question by Katshu Hara, the Japanese editor of the magazine Kaiz:
Given its potential for destruction, why did you contribute to the development of the atomic bomb?
Whoa. What a query. However, Einstein chose to respond with a succinct and direct article titled “On My Participation in the Atom Bomb Project.” His answers to Kaiz’s queries are found in the original text.
Written in German, the original text was released as a public response (rather than a private letter) in Japan. With Einstein’s handwritten phrase “Einverstanden” (agreed) indicating conformity with the final translation, the version up for auction is the only English translation that Einstein reviewed and approved. It was eventually published in the Bulletin of the Society for Social Responsibility in Science (SSRS).
And now it s up for auction?
Yes, it has now made it to Bonhams, one of the most prestigious auction houses in the nation, and they anticipate that the bidder will have to pay between $100,000 and $150,000 to acquire it.
My only act was signing a letter said Einstein
The truth is that it’s difficult to comprehend how Einstein, one of the most brilliant and amazing minds of the last century, could have contributed to the development of atomic bombs given what we now know about them and how many nations have directly threatened to use them against civilians, particularly in the past month.
According to the book, Einstein only signed a letter to Roosevelt, and he did so out of anxiety that Nazi Germany would create the bomb before anybody else, not because he wanted to be involved in its creation.
What did Einstein think about war?
We don’t know much, but the scientist made it plain that he disapproved of violence in all situations by stating that killing during a war is no better than regular murder.
Another of his remarks that still serves as a pressing call to the public conscience today is that “only the radical abolition of war can help us.”
What is the Manhattan Project?
During World War II, the United States conducted a research and development effort known as the Manhattan Project. The program’s objective was rather clear: to create the first atomic bomb before the Nazis did.
The most talented scientists and engineers of the age came together for this effort, which started in 1942 and encompassed multiple allied nations. As you may imagine, the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki marked the end of the project.
Einstein and the bomb: a moral evolution
There was no Einstein involved in the Manhattan Project. Together with physicist Leo Szil Jr., he penned his well-known warning in 1939, which Einstein would later claim was his worst error. He chose to support nuclear disarmament in the ensuing decades, took part in pacifist movements, and even refuted claims that he was the inventor of the bomb. In 1955, he signed the Russell Einstein Manifesto.
Naturally, this change in posture was not spontaneous. It was the outcome of a profound ethical shift from apprehension about Hitler to an outspoken condemnation of the immorality of war.
An auction with immeasurable historical value
Original images of Einstein in his daily life and portraits of his Princeton intellectual group, which includes Niels Bohr, Kurt G. del, and Wolfgang Pauli, are also up for auction. It is more than just a document for sale; it resurrects the conscience of a man who attempted to redeem the world from his worst creation after changing it. Have you got $150,000? At least that is the value of the testimony of the greatest talent in our recent history.
