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Lot #6017
Robert A. Millikan Typed Letter Signed

"Einstein is in the same class with Copernicus, Leonardo de Vinci, Newton"

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Description

"Einstein is in the same class with Copernicus, Leonardo de Vinci, Newton"

Nobel Prize-winning physicist (1868-1953) who was the first to isolate the electron and measure its charge. TLS signed “Robert A. Millikan,” one page, 8.5 x 11, January 5, 1953. Letter to Henri Corbiere, responding to an inquiry for an 'Homage to Einstein.' In part: "I estimate the three most creative scientists of the modern period defined as the century 1850 to 1950 - to be Faraday, Einstein and Bohr…In 1905 when no one save Einstein doubted the correctness of the wave theory of light, Einstein had the audacity to set up on the basis of some sort of a corpuscular theory of light, the photo-electric equation…In 1916 I published the first unambiguous experimental proof of the correctness of that equation, and Dr. Oseen, then Head of the Committee for the 1923 award in Physics, said to me in connection with the presentation of the 1923 award, 'In 1921 Einstein was given the Nobel Prize for the theoretical conception of this equation and in 1923 you are being given the Nobel Prize in part for the experimental proof of the correctness of that equation'…In world science Einstein is in the same class with Copernicus, Leonardo de Vinci, Newton, LaPlace, Maxwell and Bohr." A manuscript containing Corbiere's questions is taped at the top of the page. In fine condition, with some light edge toning. An amazing piece in which a Nobel Prize-winning physicist evaluates Einstein in his historical context.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Science and Technology
  • Dates: #554 - Ended December 13, 2018





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