COLLECTIBLES: A Glimpse of Genius at Work

A Glimpse of Genius at Work

Can a price be put on the secrets of the universe? Sure, if the setting is Sotheby's Manhattan auction block. Last week a handwritten manuscript in which Albert Einstein laid out his "special" theory of relativity was sold to an unidentified bidder for $1.16 million -- a record for a manuscript at a U.S. auction.

Done in black ink and pencil around 1912, the 72-page document has notes and corrections. In one spot Einstein wrote EL=mc 2 (L was a value that turned out to be 1) and then changed it to his famous E=mc 2 (energy equals mass times the...

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