By . Julian Robinson . A previously unseen letter by Albert Einstein has revealed the genius was once corrected - by a 23-year-old student. Herbert Salzer was studying for a Master’s degree in physics when he wrote to Einstein to point out that an equation in one of his published papers was actually wrong. The eminent German physicist initially politely dismissed the claim, replying to the young student with a long-winded and mathematical defence of his work. In a previously unseen letter, Albert Einstein, pictured right, admitted to Herbert Salzer, pictured left, that he had made a mistake . He concluded ‘I will now show that equation is really, really not the equation you specified’ before signing off 'Yours respectfully, A. Einstein'. But two weeks later Salzer received a second letter from Einstein in which he sensationally conceded he had made a mistake. The second letter, written by Einstein on September 13, 1938, reads: 'Shortly after I wrote you, I noticed that the error was on my side... '...The transformation required is exactly that of a tensor in the Theory of Relativity. 'Therefore, your transformation equation is correct, mine wrong. I don’t have my earlier work available. But it sure seems that I have made the same mistake there. 'This will make my assertions about the shape of the first approximation inaccurate.' The correspondence related to Einstein’s work on a unified theory of Distant Parallelism - a study of gravitation and electromagnetic fields. Einstein had spent years developing the theory but had abandoned his work in 1931 because he had struggled to explain the link between the two fields. The correspondence related to Einstein's work on a unified theory of Distant Parallelism - a study of gravitation and electromagnetic fields. Einstein's two letters, in German, plus Salzer's original letter are now tipped to fetch £50,000 at auction . At the age of 23, Herbert Salzer, pictured, wrote to Albert Einstein to question him about a point regarding his first approximation equation in his relativity theory . But the revelation of his mistake, pointed out by US student Mr Salzer, made him revisit the theory. Mr Salzer went on to become an acclaimed physicist in his own right, lecturing at Columbia and Brooklyn universities and publishing more than 100 papers. He died in 2006 aged 91 and the letters passed to his family, who are now selling them. Einstein’s two letters, written in German, and Salzer’s original letter are now tipped to fetch £50,000 at auction. Joe Maddalena, auctioneer at Profiles in History in Los Angeles, said: 'These letters are remarkable because in them Einstein humbly admits to a 23-year-old physics student that he was wrong. Herbert Salzer was born in the US in 1915 and went on to become an applied mathematician. It was in 1938 that Salzer, as a 23-year-old working on his master’s degree in mathematics and applied sciences at Columbia University, wrote to Einstein with what he believed were corrections to Einstein's unified field theory equations. Salzer completed his masters and went on to become an acclaimed physicist in his own right, lecturing at Columbia and Brooklyn universities and publishing more than 100 papers. In 1957 as a 42-year-old he wrote 'Toward a Gibbsian Approach to the Problems of Growth and Cancer' outlining a theory of form development at the cellular level. He died in 2006 aged 91 and the letters passed to his family, who are now selling them. 'It goes to show that despite being one of the greatest thinkers of all time Einstein was still just human and he made mistakes from time to time. 'What is incredible is that not only did he reply to Herbert Salzer’s initial letter, he then thought about it and sent him another letter accepting his mistake. 'The tone of the second letter is not of annoyance but one of excitement that Salzer has given him a lead to pursuing his unified field theory, something he had worked on since his theory of relativity breakthrough. 'He was grateful to anything that might put him back on the right track. 'We expect there to be a huge amount of interest worldwide in the sale of these letters.' The auction will take place on Friday.
Herbert Salzer wrote to Albert Einstein telling him he had made a mistake .
The physicist initially dismissed the student's letter with long-winded reply .
But Einstein wrote to the 23-year-old again conceding he had made an error .
The correspondence is expected to fetch £50,000 at auction this week .
By . Julian Robinson . A previously unseen letter by Albert Einstein has revealed the genius was once corrected - by a 23-year-old student. Herbert Salzer was studying for a Master’s degree in physics when he wrote to Einstein to point out that an equation in one of his published papers was actually wrong. The eminent German physicist initially politely dismissed the claim, replying to the young student with a long-winded and mathematical defence of his work. In a previously unseen letter, Albert Einstein, pictured right, admitted to Herbert Salzer, pictured left, that he had made a mistake . He concluded ‘I will now show that equation is really, really not the equation you specified’ before signing off 'Yours respectfully, A. Einstein'. But two weeks later Salzer received a second letter from Einstein in which he sensationally conceded he had made a mistake. The second letter, written by Einstein on September 13, 1938, reads: 'Shortly after I wrote you, I noticed that the error was on my side... '...The transformation required is exactly that of a tensor in the Theory of Relativity. 'Therefore, your transformation equation is correct, mine wrong. I don’t have my earlier work available. But it sure seems that I have made the same mistake there. 'This will make my assertions about the shape of the first approximation inaccurate.' The correspondence related to Einstein’s work on a unified theory of Distant Parallelism - a study of gravitation and electromagnetic fields. Einstein had spent years developing the theory but had abandoned his work in 1931 because he had struggled to explain the link between the two fields. The correspondence related to Einstein's work on a unified theory of Distant Parallelism - a study of gravitation and electromagnetic fields. Einstein's two letters, in German, plus Salzer's original letter are now tipped to fetch £50,000 at auction . At the age of 23, Herbert Salzer, pictured, wrote to Albert Einstein to question him about a point regarding his first approximation equation in his relativity theory . But the revelation of his mistake, pointed out by US student Mr Salzer, made him revisit the theory. Mr Salzer went on to become an acclaimed physicist in his own right, lecturing at Columbia and Brooklyn universities and publishing more than 100 papers. He died in 2006 aged 91 and the letters passed to his family, who are now selling them. Einstein’s two letters, written in German, and Salzer’s original letter are now tipped to fetch £50,000 at auction. Joe Maddalena, auctioneer at Profiles in History in Los Angeles, said: 'These letters are remarkable because in them Einstein humbly admits to a 23-year-old physics student that he was wrong. Herbert Salzer was born in the US in 1915 and went on to become an applied mathematician. It was in 1938 that Salzer, as a 23-year-old working on his master’s degree in mathematics and applied sciences at Columbia University, wrote to Einstein with what he believed were corrections to Einstein's unified field theory equations. Salzer completed his masters and went on to become an acclaimed physicist in his own right, lecturing at Columbia and Brooklyn universities and publishing more than 100 papers. In 1957 as a 42-year-old he wrote 'Toward a Gibbsian Approach to the Problems of Growth and Cancer' outlining a theory of form development at the cellular level. He died in 2006 aged 91 and the letters passed to his family, who are now selling them. 'It goes to show that despite being one of the greatest thinkers of all time Einstein was still just human and he made mistakes from time to time. 'What is incredible is that not only did he reply to Herbert Salzer’s initial letter, he then thought about it and sent him another letter accepting his mistake. 'The tone of the second letter is not of annoyance but one of excitement that Salzer has given him a lead to pursuing his unified field theory, something he had worked on since his theory of relativity breakthrough. 'He was grateful to anything that might put him back on the right track. 'We expect there to be a huge amount of interest worldwide in the sale of these letters.' The auction will take place on Friday.
initially politely dismissed the claim, replying to the young student with a long-winded and unseen letter, Albert Einstein, pictured right, he had made a mistake . He concluded ‘I will now approximation inaccurate.' The correspondence tipped to fetch £50,000 at auction . At the age of 23, Herbert Salzer, pictured, wrote to Albert