Einstein's letter to Roosevelt about the development of the atomic bomb by the Germans was sold at auction

On September 10, 2024, auctions for Albert Einstein's warning letter to then-US President Franklin Roosevelt about the alleged development of an atomic bomb ended on the website of Christie's auction house. The lot went under the hammer for $3.9 million.

The letter, dated August 2, 1939, contains information that Adolf Hitler wants to create a nuclear bomb. The physicist called on the American president to do the same to get ahead of the Germans.

The letter was dictated in German to a student of the scientist Leo Szilard, who later translated it into English.

It is believed that it was after this letter that Roosevelt formed the committee that became the predecessor of the "Manhattan Project" headed by Robert Oppenheimer.

The original letter is kept at the Roosevelt Library and Museum in Hyde Park, New York. And the shorter version was kept by Szilard throughout his life. It was she who was sold at the auction.