A visitor walks past a huge portrait of scientist Albert Einstein at an exhibition. A rare set of published articles by Einstein was auctioned for 42,000 dollars, with the proceeds to benefit a left-leaning workers' organisation in New York.(AFP/File/Liu Jin)
Jun 14
Einstein articles auctioned to benefit workers party Working Families Party (WFP)
NEW YORK (AFP) - A rare set of published articles by Albert Einstein was auctioned for 42,000 dollars, with the proceeds to benefit a left-leaning workers' organisation in New York.
The 94 articles, covering the scientist's prolific years between 1907 and 1928 and annotated in his own hand, were brought by a private collector at Christie's.
Einstein had left the articles to his son, Hans Albert Einstein, who then passed them on to another family member.
They finally ended up in the hands of a family friend, who also happened to be a supporter of the Working Families Party (WFP) -- an organisation that promotes workers' issues like raising the minimum wage and increased health benefits.
In an e-mail exchange with the New York Times, the family friend, who declined to be identified, said he felt the pacifist Einstein would have approved of the money from the auction going to the WFP.
"Remembering Einstein's progressive political leanings and valuing the same progressive principles," the donor wrote, giving the proceeds of the sale to the party "would be a meaningful, if belated, way of advancing his views."
The Christie's lot was bought by David Waxman, owner of an antiquarian bookstore in New York State.
