Letter from Albert Einstein to Muriel Rukeyser
Item
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Title
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Letter from Albert Einstein to Muriel Rukeyser
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Creator
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Albert Einstein
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Description
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A photocopy of a typewritten letter, dated September 12th, 1942. The letter is from Albert Einstein to Muriel Rukeyser. The background information on this letter is that Muriel Rukeyser wanted Albert Einstein to write a foreword to her poetry book, Willard Gibbs, which was about the eponymous scientist. Rukeyser asked Einstein to “...lend his name to her effort to make Gibbs known to a time that needed the story of his achievement”. Without reading Rukeyser’s book, Einstein refused, saying that “In my view, there is but one way to bring a great scientist to the attention of the larger public: it is to discuss and explain, in language that will be generally understood, the problems and solutions which have characterized his life-work. This can only be done by someone who has a fundamental grasp of the material”. Einstein acknowledges that the personal side must be taken account of, but it can't be the whole focus of the book, or the work becomes “....banal hero-worship, based on emotion and not on insight” and that Einstein has learned “...by my own experience how hateful and ridiculous it is, when a serious man, absorbed in important endeavors, is ignorantly lionized”. In the end, Einstein completely denies Rukeyser’s request, saying that “...I cannot give my public endorsement to such an undertaking. It would seem to me less than honourable. That sound harsh: I even fear that you will take my inability for unjustifiable unkindness. But so I am, and cannot be otherwise”. The first part of the letter is bracketed, while on the back of the paper, a sticky note says, “Einstein”
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Date Created
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September 12th, 1942
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Original Object Type
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Paper
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Subject
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photocopy; letter; albert einstein; muriel rukeyser; willard gibbs; book reviews;
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Collection Location
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Box 1 Folder 10
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Cataloger
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Latitude Brown
