Letter

By: Albert Einstein

Date: August 2, 1939

Source: Einstein, Albert. Letter to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, August 2, 1939. Albert Einstein Archives. The Jewish National and University Library. Hebrew University, Jerusalem, Israel. Available online at http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/nuclear1.htm; website home page: http://www.aip.org (accessed October 16, 2002).

About the Author: Albert Einstein (1879–1955) was born in Ulm, Germany. Although interested in mathematics, Einstein did not do well in the rigid German school system. His family moved to Berne, Switzerland, where he found employment as an assistant patents clerk. It was during his spare time at this job that he jotted down the ideas that would be the basis for his revolutionary theories, including his...