Original Manuscripts of Einstein’s General Relativity Showcased in an Exhibition in Jerusalem

A rare insight into the life’s work of the world’s most famous physicist has opened this week in Jerusalem, with a unique exhibition showcasing original handwritten manuscripts by Albert Einstein in his work on his Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity.

The Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities is holding a public exhibition of 46 pages of the original manuscripts written by Einstein. In one room the visitors are able to examine the original manuscripts (handwritten by Einstein in German), while another room features enlarged copies of those manuscript with detailed explanations in Hebrew and English.

By examining these copies, “one can almost look over Einstein’s shoulder while he was at work – his elegant handwriting, the corrections and equations, the erasures and additions,” explains Professor Hanoch Gutfreund, the exhibition’s curator.

This is a window not only to the operations of the world’s most famous physicist, but also to a scientific concept that revolutionized the way we perceive our universe, time and gravity.

The theory of General Relativity holds practical value, as well as theoretical one. General Relativity predicts (among many many other things) that clocks closer to the Earth’s gravity will seem to tick more slowly than clocks farther away. This prediction (which was experimentally verified) allowed for the creation of technology like GPS satellites (Global Positioning Systems) that are used today all over the world.

The exhibition is held courtesy of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, which owns the official “Albert Einstein” brand, including the use of his image. Einstein bequeathed his estate and the use of his image to the Hebrew University, which now licenses it to companies and institutions around the world. The Hebrew University in Jerusalem has long term collaborative projects to collect and maintain Einstein’s works and manuscripts online and through the “Albert Einstein Archives” project.

This exhibition marks the jubilee anniversary of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities and opens the Israeli National Science Week, held around Einstein’s birthday at March 24th. It will be open to the public at the Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Jerusalem between March 7th and 25th 2010.

Read more about the exhibition in this New York Times’ article.

Or visit the official page of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities.

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