Einstein manuscript showcased in entirety

THE original manuscript of Albert Einstein’s groundbreaking theory of relativity, which helps explain everything from black holes to the Big Bang, went on display in its entirety for the first time yesterday.

Einstein’s 46-page handwritten explanation of his general theory of relativity, in which he demonstrates an expanding universe and shows how gravity can bend space and time, is being shown at the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Jerusalem as part the scholarly association’s 50th anniversary celebration.

“We wanted something unique that would have global significance, and fortunately we could have access to a manuscript that has never been seen in its entirety before,” said the academy’s president, Menahem Yaari.

Einstein was one of the founders of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

He contributed the manuscript to the university when it was founded in 1925, four years after he was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics. His will bequeathed the rest of his papers to the university upon his death in 1955.

The university is lending the manuscript to the academy for the anniversary celebration.

First published in 1916, the general theory of relativity remains a pivotal breakthrough in modern physics.

“It changed our understanding of space, time, gravitation, and really the entire universe,” said Hanoch Gutfreund, former president of the Hebrew University and current chair of its academic committee for the Albert Einstein Archives, a complete collection of Einstein’s papers.

“I refer to it as the Magna Carta of physics,” Gutfreund said. “It’s the most important manuscript in the entire archives.”

The manuscript has never attracted as much attention as the man himself.

It took Einstein eight years after publishing his theory of special relativity to expand that into his theory of general relativity.

The manuscript will be on display until March 25, overlapping with the 131st anniversary of Einstein’s birth on March 14.