Einstein's love letters, documents go online

A website launched by a university in Israel has catalogued more than 80,000 of Albert Einstein's collected papers and notes and personal correspondence, including love letters. The website's launch -- marked simultaneously in Israel, at The Einstein Papers Project at the California Institute of Technology, and at Israeli embassies worldwide -- commemorated Einstein's 133rd birthday March 14 also observed as Israel's National Science Day, Xinhua reported. Dalia Mendelsson, who heads the archives project's IT department at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said the website was created with specifically-designed database software, in order to allow the public to see what was once only available to scholars and students. Einstein, who developed the General Theory of Relativity and was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his work in theoretical physics, is widely considered the father of modern physics. Among the non-scientific documents are a letter to Azmi El-Nashashibi, editor of the Falastin newspaper, discussing a solution to the Jewish-Arab conflict, a postcard to his sick mother, a letter from a younger mistress, and amusing fan letters about his iconic unruly hair. "There were 43,000 documents from 2003 until today, so, of course, the database grew from then. Now we are providing the 80,000 records. We are starting the project with 2,000 images, and by the end of the month we will have 7,000 images," Mendelsson said. "It's like meeting the author of all these letters, in an intimate look at all of his work," Mendelsson said of Einstein, who helped found the university in 1918.