EINSTEIN ALBERT (1879-1955). Interesting, moving... Lot 193

EINSTEIN ALBERT (1879-1955). Interesting, moving and amusing typed letter signed "A. Einstein", Berlin, 5 November [19]19, 1 p. in-4 addressed to Professor Jean PERRIN (1870-1942, Nobel Prize in Physics 1926, Under-Secretary of State for Scientific Research in the Blum government in 1936, creator of the Palais de la Découverte in Paris, founder of the C.N.R.S., buried in the Panthéon), in French, with several autograph corrections and an amusing autograph mention at the bottom of the letter next to an ink stain "goutte de sueur de la rédaction". After a first paragraph in which he expresses his doubts about Perrin's opinion on the primary importance of radiation for all chemical reactions, he begs his correspondent to do something in favour of a young geologist, a relative of his cousins, then a prisoner of war in the camp of Charleville, and ends his letter by sending his regards to him and to Paul LANGEVIN and Marie CURIE. "Dear Perrin! I have received your separatas and I thank you cordially. Your opinion of the primary importance of radiation for all chemical reactions still seems to me doubtful, even if it were certain (which was not the case) that reactions of the type J² - J+J are of the first order. It would be possible, for example, that J² molecules whose inner energy exceeds a certain limit would decompose according to radioactive bodies. One more prayer. One of the parents of one of my cousins - a geologist - is a prisoner of war in France. His mother (widow), having lost her other son in the war, is in great sorrow for her only son, because he had tried to escape several times. She trembles at the thought that the man - by his former attempts to escape in a very difficult situation - might try to escape again and be shot. Was it not possible to do something in favour of this young scholar? The address: Pionier August Moos Comp. of p. d. g. nr. 913 Charleville (Ardennes). With many regards to you, Mr. Langevin and Mrs. Curie. All yours A. Einstein" A distant cousin of Albert Einstein, the geologist August Moos volunteered in the infantry at the beginning of the First World War in 1914. He was taken prisoner in 1915 and after several escape attempts between 1917 and 1919, he was sentenced to a prison term which prevented his release after the armistice in 1918. His mother asked Albert Einstein for help, who in turn asked his friend Jean Perrin and the deputy and future minister Paul Painlevé. Moos was finally released in February 1920. His brother Theodor, a lieutenant, had fallen at the front on 27 May 1918. August Moos continued his career as a petroleum geologist between the wars before being deported to the Buchenwald camp because of his Jewish origins, where he died in December 1944 or January 1945. This letter was typed the day before the official report of Eddington's expedition confirming Einstein's theory of general relativity, in front of the Royal Society of London, which immediately elevated Einstein to the rank of Newton and offered him an international scientific and popular fame, favoured by the post-war context in which a theory of a German scientist was verified by an English astronomer. Lot appraised by Mrs Elvire Poulain-Marquis (elvirepoulain@gmail.com).