Letter from Einstein to Max Born, with Extensive Discussion of Einstein's Famous Remark about Quantum Physics, "G-d ...

Letter from Einstein to Max Born, with Extensive Discussion of Einstein's Famous Remark about Quantum Physics, "G-d Doesn't Play Dice"
Copy of a letter from Professor Albert Einstein to Professor Max Born, Princeton, New Jersey, September 7, 1944. Fascinating letter from Einstein, addressing ethics and science, and the famous remark, "G-d doesn't play dice," first written by Einstein in a letter to Born in 1926. In the letter before us, he once again addresses these words.
Einstein reminisces with Born about their trip 25 years ago on a tramcar to the Reichstag, convinced that they could turn German lawmakers into honest Democrats. He can only laugh about their naiveté back then. "We both did not realize how much more sits in the spinal cord than in the cerebrum, and how much tighter it sits." They should remember this lesson in order to prevent a repetition of the tragedies that occurred. It's not surprising that (most) scientists are no exception; the exceptions don't operate through their special intellectual powers, but through their humanity, such as Laue [Max von] [who publicly opposed the Nazi policies]. Einstein notes that it was interesting to watch his sense of justice lead him to step by step detach himself from the influence of the crowd, due to his strong sense of justice. Men of medicine have not been very successful adopting their "ethical code" and the chance of ethical conduct amongst scientists is even smaller, due to their mechanized and specialized way of thinking.
Understandings about right and wrong, develop and die, like a tree, without much influence from the fertilization they receive. The only thing an individual can do is serve as a pure personal example, courageous enough to advocate seriously his ethical convictions in the society of cynics. Einstein testifies that he himself tried to act in this manner for a long time (with varying success).
He is not overly excited by Born's feelings that he is too old; he knows these feelings. He notes that one can confidently let nature turn them slowly into dust, unless she prefers a faster process. Einstein expresses his confidence that it is impossible to destroy "Jewish Physics."
Einstein concludes with the fact that they both moved to radically opposing positions in regards to their scientific expectations. "You believe in the dice-throwing G-d and I believe in complete order in a world of objective existence which I am trying to catch in a wildly speculative way." The monumental initial success of quantum theory could not persuade him to believe "in fundamental dice playing."
Prof. Max Born (1882-1970) was a Jewish, German-born physicist who earned his doctorate from the University of Gottingen. He taught in the universities of Berlin and Frankfurt and in the new Institute for Theoretical Physics in Gottingen. After the Nazi rise to power, he moved to England and taught in Cambridge and Edinburgh. He returned to Germany in 1953, and received the Nobel Prize for physics a year later.
[2] pages, paper. 25x20 cm. The letter was typewritten and is unsigned. There are a number of corrections, apparently in Einstein's handwriting, to the letter. Fine condition. Clasp marks.