Handwritten manuscript from Albert Einstein donated to Nobel Prize Museum

“There is always heavy interest in Albert Einstein among our Museum visitors. This manuscript will help us to tell about his research and about the twists and turns surrounding his Nobel Prize, which he in fact did not receive for the theory of relativity. We are very pleased at the opportunity to display it,” says Erika Lanner, Director of the Nobel Prize Museum.

The manuscript incorporates a variant of Einstein’s 1915 general theory of relativity, with comments by Nobel Laureate Max von Laue. It was the basis for a paper that was published on 21 December 1922 by the Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences. The paper was a response to a paper published by mathematician Erich Trefftz in Annalen der Physikearlier in 1922.

Albert Einstein was retroactively awarded the 1921 Nobel Prize in Physics “for his Services to Theoretical Physics, and especially for his discovery of the law of the photoelectric effect,” which was decided and announced in the autumn of 1922.

Until 1948 the manuscript was owned by Max von Laue, the 1914 Nobel Laureate in Physics.  After 1948 it had various private owners. In the autumn of 2018 the manuscript was acquired by Åsa and Per Taube of Stockholm for the purpose of donating it to the collection of artefacts that are housed at the Nobel Prize Museum.

“This is a unique document that we would like many people to enjoy, so we could not imagine a better home for it than the Museum,” says Per Taube.

The manuscript will be on public display at the Museum after this summer.

About the Nobel Prize Museum

The Nobel Prize shows that ideas can change the world. The courage, creativity and perseverance of the Nobel Laureates inspire us and give us hope for the future. By means of videos, in-depth guided tours and donated artefacts, we at the Nobel Prize Museum tell about the Laureates and their contributions for the greatest benefit to humankind. Based on the Nobel Prize’s unique combination of fields – natural sciences, literature and peace – we examine the great issues of our time and show how we can respond to them with science, humanism and cooperation. Through our exhibitions, school programmes, lectures and dialogues, we at the Museum would like to generate public engagement for a better world. Today we are located on Stortorget, the main square in Stockholm’s Old Town. In the future we will be creating a new home for the Nobel Prize in the heart of the Swedish capital.

For further information, please contact

press@nobelprize.org