Another Unscoop: An academic translation was published last year

“In 2009 online news media released small, blurry images of Einstein’s letter, along with translations that are not very accurate; mistakes include omitted words, and the insertion of words such as ‘childish.'” So writes Alberto A. Martinez, Associate Professor in the Department of History of the University of Texas at Austin. “I provide an original and very literal word for word translation.”

Who translated the Einstein-Gutkind letter for the Guardian newspaper?

In answer to the Uncertaintist‘s inquiries about its 2008 catalog translation of excerpts from the Einstein-Gutkind letter, a spokesman at Bloomsbury Auctions wrote, “I am afraid I don’t know who Joan Stambaugh is, we did not use her translation.” When asked to clarify this statement, the spokesman added, “It was translated by a member of staff in house.”

As has been reported previously, there are difficulties with a widely used translation, an abridged version of which ran in the Guardian newspaper in May 2008, after quotes from it appeared in reporting by the Guardian‘s James Randerson. The shorter excerpts which had been printed in the Bloomsbury auction catalog agreed with the Guardian translation verbatim.

The Guardian translation has often been reprinted and adapted in the years since, as has the Guardian‘s attribution of the translation to a woman named Joan Stambaugh. Bloomsbury had not named who translated the letter for them in the catalog listing for the lot.

The Guardian did not identify Joan Stambaugh except for her name, nor did it explain why it thought that was the name. There has been speculation that the attribution referred to Professor Joan Stambaugh, graduate of Vassar College in 1955, who had received professor emeritus status, that is, was retired, from the Philosophy Department of Hunter College in 2001. (Update: Professor Stambaugh died on July 7, 2013, age 81).

Can we recreate what Gutkind saw when he opened Einstein’s letter?

An employee of the Albert Einstein Archives at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem has told the Uncertaintist that the organization will try to synthesize a new image of the Einstein-Gutkind letter which would represent what it looked like a half century ago. “We may be able to create an original-like new print” by combining a black and white photocopy owned by the archives with the high quality color images recently released to the public for the upcoming eBay auction of the letter. “We’ll try to get a nice copy together.”

Trimillion meme II: Was Einstein childish to write ‘primitive’?

Previously, the Uncertaintist reported the upcoming auction of the January 1954 letter from Albert Einstein to Eric Gutkind, a thank you note for a copy of Gutkind’s book. The current post examines what Einstein actually wrote, in context, when making three “headline statements”:

The Jewish people are not “chosen”

Religion stems from primitive superstition

The Jewish God reflects weaknesses and the Jewish Bible contains primitive legends

After seeing how the real text differs from some reports about it, the post establishes for each “headline”  Einstein’s meaning, what Einstein was answering in Gutkind’s book, and gives a well-attested example of Einstein writing similar thoughts elsewhere, with similar candor.

The three million dollar meme – Einstein was an atheist (not)

Few personal opinions about the question of God are as tirelessly analyzed as Albert Einstein’s. Some people think that a personal letter of his, written in 1954 to Eric Gutkind, the author of a book about Judaism, casts new light on Einstein’s religious views. The letter, already a sensation in the auction world for having fetched $ 404,000 (including the auction fees paid by the buyer) in 2008, will be offered again at auction in early October, this time online and with a minimum bid of $ 3 million.

Atheist activist Richard Dawkins believes the letter finally settles that Einstein was an atheist. Does it? Does it shed any new light on Einstein’s thoughts about God?

Carl Jung’s knowledge of God

Now?

In a BBC interview which aired during October 1959, Carl Jung told John Freeman about growing up as a pastor’s son in the Swiss Reformed Church, a boy who went to Sunday services  and believed in God. Freeman asked whether Jung still believed in God. Jung answered,

Now? (Pause) Difficult to answer. I know. I needn’t, I don’t need to believe. I know.

After receiving many letters about his answer, Jung wrote to the BBC’s weekly magazine, The Listener, to amplify, if not necessarily clarify, his remarks.

Jung’s letter was published in January 1960. It is the mature Jung’s definitive statement about God. Its text, along with other source material, appears in the Unlinks section, here. Unrolling Jung’s Persian carpet of thought is the object of this post.