LEVY PAUL: (1886-1971) French mathematician, active in probability theory. Manuscript D.S. ...

LEVY PAUL: (1886-1971) French mathematician, active in probability theory. Manuscript D.S., P. Levy, one page, 4to, n.p., 2^nd April 1954, in French. Levy responds to a researcher’s questionnaire entitled Enquête Mondiale - Hommage a Einstein, with their manuscript questions at the head of the page, ‘1. Que pensez-vous d'Einstein, ou que lui devez-vous? 2. Parmi les plus illustres savants de tous les temps, a qui le comparez-vous et quelle place, d'apres vous, prendra-t-il dans l'avenir?’ (Translation: ‘1. What do you think of Einstein, or what do you owe to him? 2. Among the most famous scientists of all time, to whom do you compare him, and what place, according to you, will he hold in the future?’). Levy provides his answers beneath, ‘1. Il m'est difficile de dire ce que je dois personellement a Einstein, en ce sens que je ne suis pas physicien. Cela ne m'empeche pas de connaitre le principe de ses plus grandes decouvertes et d'admirer specialement la puissance d'esprit qui a ete necessaire pour arriver a sa theorie de la relativite generalisee. Je crois que la plupart des theories physiques, ne sont que des approximations d'une realite qui nous echappe. La theorie de la relativite est une des rares, peut-etre la seule, dont on peut penser qu'elle est rigoureusement exacte. 2. Les comparaisons sont toujours difficiles. Il n'est pas douteux que le nom d'Einstein restera comparable aux plus grands et que ses travaux d'une part, ceux de Planck d'autre part, sont a l'origine d'une revolution profonde de la physique……’ (Translation: ‘1. It is difficult for me to say what I personally owe to Einstein, in the sense that I am not a physicist. This does not prevent me from knowing the principle of his greatest discoveries and from especially admiring the power of mind which was necessary to arrive at his theory of generalised relativity. I believe that most physical theories are only approximations of a reality that escapes us. The theory of relativity is one of the rare ones, perhaps the only one, which can be thought to be rigorously exact. 2. Comparisons are always difficult. There is no doubt that Einstein’s name will remain comparable to the greatest and that his work on the one hand, and that of Planck on the other, are at the origin of a profound revolution in physics….’). VG

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) German-born theoretical physicist, Nobel Prize winner for Physics, 1921.