Einstein at his desk, Princeton, New Jersey, circa 1955
He wrote papers, and letters, long-hand. Sometimes they would be typed up by an assistant, perhaps Helen Dukas.
The desk of Albert Einstein features a refreshing, bracing lack of technology. No typewriter. No telephone. No radio. No Dictaphone. No intercom. Pencils. Is there even a ballpoint pen? A chalkboard in back of the desk provided a large sketch pad for new ideas, and new trials of ideas, from the man who gave us nuclear power, gravity as a deformation of space, the speed of light as a firm constant in the universe, and relativity.
Somewhere there may be a typewriter Einstein actually used once or twice. I’d like to know about it.
More:
- Life Magazine photographer Ralph Morse captured photos of Einstein’s office the morning after Einstein’s death; note the tobacco tin
- One of Morse’s photos shows a telephone — antiquated by 1955 standards. See the photo below
- I’m Revolting adds another of the Life Magazine photos from Ralph Morse; the magazine at the lower right corner of the desk is a philosophy journal
- Mani . . . Illustrated features a photo that looks like yet another of Morse’s
- Morse’s photos, and the stories that go with them, were finally published in April 2010, at the Life Magazine Archives.
Ralph Morse photo of Einstein’s office the day he died, April 18, 1955 — originally for Life Magazine, not published; via AllPosters. Note the antiquated telephone away from the desk, near the wall; Einstein’s pipe and a tobacco tin appear the closest things to technology on the desk; is that a bottle of ink for a fountain pen next to the tobacco tin?
Millard Fillmore's Bathtub 
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[…] Einstein’s desk and office in Princeton, New Jersey (no typewriter; can you find a telephone?) […]
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Supposedly the the typewriter was a loan by a man claiming to meet him and the typewriter was sold to Mike Wolfe of the American pickers.
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http://www.allreadable.com/577b3ZB1
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[…] Einstein’s desk and office in Princeton, New Jersey (no typewriter; can you find a telephone?) […]
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I still remember seeing the big headline in the Long Island Daily Press the day after Einstein died.
Steve Schwartzman
http://portraitsofwildflowers.wordpress.com
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I don’t see a slide rule. There would certainly be at least one of those at close hand.
He probably had a secretary/grad student to do his typing.
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