RARE LETTER FOR HU ARCHIVE

Einstein – Bendigo to Jerusalem

The letter from the famous physicist, will join some 82,000 of his letters and writings, which, as a founder of HU, he bequeathed to the university.

Rob Champion (left) and Rob Schneider with Albert Einstein's letter.
Rob Champion (left) and Rob Schneider with Albert Einstein's letter.

A LETTER from Albert Einstein has found a new home at Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU) after it was gifted to the university by a resident of central Victoria.

The letter from the famous physicist, who was responsible for the Theory of Relativity and other 20th century scientific milestones, will join some 82,000 of his letters and writings, which, as a founder of HU, he bequeathed to the university.

Australian Friends of Hebrew University (AUSTFHU) CEO Rob Schneider heard from the university that an Australian family wanted to donate the Einstein rarity. The three-page letter, signed by Einstein from his faculty at Princeton University in New Jersey, was a reply to a question put to him in 1951 by Melbourne physicist Leonard Champion, whose letter to Einstein is already in HU’s Einstein Archives.

A page from the Einstein letter.

The Australian physicist had enquired about the dynamics of disk rotation, and, according to Champion’s son Rob, a retired maths teacher, Einstein’s reply was encouraging.

“Einstein basically said [the Australian scientist’s] theory is correct,” Schneider told The AJN.

Champion’s granddaughter, Megan Champion, had contacted HU to advise that her family was interested in donating Einstein’s letter. “My grandfather would be very happy to know the letter is in its rightful place,” she wrote.

Visiting Melbourne, Schneider – accompanied by visiting HU academic Professor Gila Kahila Bar-Gal – travelled to Woodend, midway between Melbourne and Bendigo, where they were handed the letter by Rob Champion, who had carefully looked after Einstein’s letter to his father.

The letter was personally taken to Israel last month by former Sydneysider Karen Pisk, a member of AUSTFHU, who now lives in Israel. It has taken its place in the Einstein Archives.

Albert Einstein in 1947. Photo: Wikipedia

Describing the new acquisition as “rare and exciting”, HU Einstein Archives information officer Miriam Kutschinski thanked the Champion family for donating the letter and Schneider, Pisk and AUSTFHU for arranging its safe transit to Israel.

The Einstein Archives will ultimately be housed in the new Einstein House on HU’s Givat Ram campus.

It will include a reconstruction of Einstein’s personal library and his office.

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