Einstein's letter alerting FDR to nuclear weapons sold for US$3.9m, a treasure from Paul Allen's collection

The advent of nuclear power fundamentally changed the world and how we interact with it. While we remember the Manhattan Project to deliver to the US the nuclear bomb to use in the Second World War, what were the origins of such a project? Often lost in the chaos of the Second World War is Einstein's letter to FDR warning the president about Germany's nuclear program and encouraging American research into nuclear physics. 

The official letter is now a museum piece, but a second shorter letter was never sent. On 10 September, it was sold by Christie's New York as part of their Pushing Boundaries: Ingenuity from the Paul G. Allen Collection sale. Estimated at US$4 million, the lot was the brainchild of both Einstein and fellow physicist Leo Szliard. It ended up fetching US$3.2 million on the auction floor, around US$3.92 million after fees.

Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has become quite legendary within the auction space. His collection of art became renowned when in 2022 Christie’s sold it and set an auction record for the most valuable single-owner art collection, as it made over US$1.6 billion. It is now joined by the successful auctioning of various scientific and historical pieces of memorabilia. 


The creator of the collection Paul Allen (right) alongside friend and Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates (left)

Lot 6⏐Albert Einstien (1879-1955) & Leo Szilard (1898-1964)⏐A typed letter signed, “A. Einstein to President FDR⏐Typed page
Circa 4-7 August 1939, Peconic, Long Island, New York
Provenance:

  • Leo S. Szilard (1898-1964)
  • Gertrud Weiss Szilard (1909-1981), wife of the preceding
  • A relative of the above
  • Anonymous sale; Christie's New York, 19 December 1986, lot 68
  • Malcolm S. Forbes; Christie’s New York, 27 March 2002, lot 161
  • Collection of Paul G. Allen

Estimate: US$4,000,000 - 6,000,0000
Hammer Price: US$3,200,000
Sold: US$3,922,000


Auction House: Christie’s New York
Sale: Pushing Boundaries: Ingenuity from the Paul G. Allen Collection
Date: 10 September 2024


The bidding for it opened at US$2.5 million, with the auctioneer placing an absentee bid, which instantly took the lot to US$3 million. This was followed by the Head of Client Advisory Americas, Maria Los, who on behalf of her client on the phone placed a bid of US$3.2 million. Eventually, after much eager waiting and anticipation, that bid secured the lot for Los’ client with paddle number “1738.” After fees, the client paid around US$3.92 million.

In the 1930s, one of the most worrying developments for physicists was the rapid rise of German nuclear research. One of the preeminent physicists of the time, Leo Sizlard, realized how to make nuclear weapons, further understanding that if he understood the principles of how to produce one, the Germans weren’t far behind.

Sizlard’s fears were confirmed when he read research on the topic of nuclear physics coming out of Germany, and he and his associates sought a way to warn others of the dangers this posed. Many scientists tried to warn various world governments of the dangers and potentials of nuclear power, but they were turned away. It was thought that a physicist of utmost prestige was needed to get through to government officials, and it was here that Albert Einstein was brought into the equation.

Einstein was approached to pen the letter, as the first country to be warned was Belgium, and Einstien personally knew the Belgian royal family. Belgium’s colony of the Belgian Congo was a major source of uranium ore and had to be warned of German aggression. When Szilard came to Einstein with his concern about nuclear weapons, Einstein exclaimed, “I did not even think about that.”


Einstein (left) and Szilard (right) reenact the original conversation they had for a 1946 documentary titled Atomic Power

Following their letter to the Belgian government, Einstien and Szilard felt it necessary to inform the US State Department of what they were doing and directly warn the US government, taking advantage of Einstien’s celebrity.

Szilard had originally handwritten a version and sent it to Einstien for his editing and signature, a version that was riddled with grammar errors and misspellings of words. When Szilard arrived at Einstein’s Long Island home, the latter would dictate his version in German

The letter was then taken by Szilard to his stenographer at Columbia University, Janet Coatesworth, to type it out in English. Upon being told about “powerful bombs,” Coatesworth thought she was working for a “nut.” The “Yours truly, Albert Einstein” written at the end did little to alleviate her concerns. The letter was then posted for Einstien to sign. This is where the two versions of the letter appear.


The house in Southold, Long Island, New York, where Einstien lived in the summer of 1939 and helped pen the letter to the US government. Sizlard drove here frequently over the summer of 1939 to coordinate the letter with Einstien

The official version of the Einstein-Sizlard letter which was sent to FDR. It is held at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Presidential Library in Hyde Park, New York State
 

It’s during this process of producing the letter to FDR that two distinct correspondences appear. The first is the sold lot, coming in at around one-and-a-half pages and marked “Original, not set” by Sizlard on the top of the first page. The second is the version shown above, the version officially sent to the US Government and relatively longer.

The official version uses the rest of the second page to make several concrete points on which the US could build its nuclear policy. It made various recommendations on inter-departmental communication and the resources necessary for such a project.

However, both letters made common ground in warning of German nuclear development. The official letter goes into some more detail about the steps Germany was taking, but they both raised the alarm about Germany halting nuclear material exports. They also both warned about German scientific progress on nuclear experimentation.

With the letter dispatched in August of 1939 and the war in Europe breaking out the following month, this letter may have been one of the most vital parts in galvanizing US action towards nuclear arms development, and as such, this unsent version represents a draft in the process of one of the most infamous breakthroughs in human history.


The Vemork power plant in Norway. It was a key site for German nuclear development, following the country's occupation. It should be noted that the threat of German nuclear weapons raised by Szliard and Einstein never truly materialized, as superior Allied resources, research, and their sabotaging of the Germans, guaranteed US victory in the nuclear race

Einstein with J. Robert Oppenheimer, who was one of the main architects of the Manhattan Project, it can be implied that Einstien’s letter to FDR was the catalyst for that very program