Letter from Albert Einstein to Rukeyser, Sep. 12, 1942

A photocopy of a typewritten two-page letter, dated September 12th, 1942. The letter is from Albert Einstein to Muriel Rukeyser. The background information on this letter is that Muriel Rukeyser had asked Albert Einstein to write a foreword to her biography of the theoretical scientist Willard Gibbs. 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 which 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.” Kertesz found this letter during her research in the Berg Collection of the New York Public Library. Page 2 of 2.