Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
Autograph letter signed (with initials, 'A.E.') to Cornelius Lanczos, Princeton, 19 June 1943
In German. One page, 278 x 214mm. Provenance: Sotheby's, 26 November 1980, lot 164.

'The miracle of the comprehensibility of what is only given so indirectly'. Einstein and his sister have read a lecture by Lanczos with great interest and approval. He comments that 'Positivists and pragmatists come out of it as bearers of a world-feeling in the same way that the Epicureans seemed to pious Jews and Christians ... But there is some truth in it, namely that these philosophical directions, obsessed with sense-data, have lost their understanding of the miracle of the comprehensibility of what is only given so indirectly'. He adds that critics who attempt to pick apart the reasoning of the argument will simply have missed the point, and concludes provocatively: 'I would be interested to know how something so un-American affects the learned people here. Have you had any experience in this regard? It would be a kind of psychological "test"'.

Einstein's use of the word 'un-American' in relation to Lanczos's philosophical exploration is prophetic, as Lanczos did indeed run foul of McCarthy-era suspicions of 'Un-American' leanings.