EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955). Typed letter signed (''A. Einstein'') to Daniel M. Lipkin, Princeton, 5 July 1952.

EINSTEIN, Albert (1879-1955). Typed letter signed ("A. Einstein") to Daniel M. Lipkin, Princeton, 5 July 1952.

One page, 280 x 218mm, on Institute for Advanced Study letterhead with several autograph emendations including a hand-written equation.

Einstein likens quantum theory to a "system of delusion of an exceedingly intelligent paranoiac concocted of incoherent elements of thought". Einstein offers his counsel to Lipkin, an engineer and a former student of his friend David Bohm at Princeton on a set of equations he had sent for comment: "Your point of view to try to operate on the basis of certain lines analogous to the geodetical line seem to me not appropriate for reasons of principles. A relativistic theory of the total field should, according to my opinion, cannot admit singularities. Particles concentrated in a point can therefore not be used in such theory. For this reason I do not believe that any lines should play a fundamental role. The conviction that only solutions without any singularities can claim physical meaning creates a tremendous difficulty, because there are for non-linear differential equations—as far as I know—no methods to find them out systematically or even to find general theorems."

He then offers a superb critique of quantum theory: "I too have many reasons to believe that the present quantum theory, inspite [sic] of its many successes, is far from the truth. This theory reminds me a little of the system of delusion of an exceedingly intelligent paranoiac concocted of incoherent elements of thought. As you also seem to believe I believe it impossible to get a real insight without satisfying from the start the principle of general relativity. I feel, however, by no means sure that my own approach is the right one." Einstein then references Lipkin's former professor: "I do also not believe that the de Broglie-Bohm's approach is very hopeful. It leads, f.i., to the consequence that a particle belonging to a standing wave has no speed. This is contrary to the well-founded conviction that a nearly free particle should approximately behave according to classical mechanics."

Pre-Lot Text
The following five letters (lots 43 - 47) are written to Daniel Lipkin, a Bronx, New York native, who as a self-described "awestruck 15 year-old high school student," first wrote to Einstein in 1944 and continued his correspondence with the physicist after completing his studies at Princeton (1946-1949) under Einstein's friend David Bohm. Lipkin went on to work as an electrical engineer working for Sperry Univac designing early computers, and later at American Electronic Laboratories. (Lipkin, letter to the editor, American Journal of Physics, 1981, p. 619; Obit., Philadelphia Inquirer, 29 June 2009).