One of the world’s brightest now has his correspondence digitized, and online.
Have you ever wanted to do a deep dive into the mind of Albert Einstein? Now’s your chance, as Princeton is putting every letter, paper, and correspondence of the father of modern physics study.
In a project called The Digital Einstein Papers, all of Einstein’s known papers and writings will eventually be digitized, and released online for free. So far, the project has covered roughly 25 percent of the collection, covering Einstein’s writings up through 1921. Thirteen volumes are currently available, along with accompanying translated (into English) volumes. While Einstein’s later work would appear in English, his earlier writings are largely in German.
In total, 30,000 documents will be part of the The Digital Einstein Papers project. Of these, roughly 450 papers were published works (meaning they were published academic papers during his lifetime). So far, “approximately 7,000 pages representing 2,900 unique documents have been digitized.”
I don’t think anyone here is going to pour through 7,000 pages of writings (much less the eventual total of 30,000), but having unfettered access to one of the greatest scientific minds ever seen? We are lucky students, indeed.
Oh, and the first document (birth certificate excluded) that references Einstein directly? It’s a letter from his mother to a relative (Fanny Einstein), talking about how little Albert was ranked first in his class again.
Source: Princeton
