Einstein's Brier Pipe
date: label: Date made
content: before 1948
name: label: owner
content: Einstein, Albert
label: referenced
content: Plunguian, Gina
label: user
content: Einstein, Albert
notes: label: Description
content: Albert Einstein, creator of the theory of relativity, Nobel Prize winner, and striver for world peace, is almost as well known for his physical appearance as for his epochal work in theoretical physics. Characteristic of that appearance was a pipe. Although in his later years he restricted his smoking on doctors' orders, he couldn't bear to give up the tactile experience of a pipe itself. This one, in fact, gives evidence of Einstein's long usage in a hole he wore through its bit. He was still in the habit of holding it when in 1953 he gave it to a friend and admirer, Gina Plunguian, from whom it ultimately came to the Museum. It has become the most popular object in the Modern Physics collection.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
setName: label: See more items in
content: Medicine and Science: Modern Physics
label: See more items in
content: Science & Mathematics
publisher: label: Related Publication
content: Kendrick, Kathleen M. and Peter C. Liebhold. Smithsonian Treasures of American History
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 1996.0006.01
label: accession number
content: 1996.0006
label: catalog number
content: 1996.0006.01
objectType: label: Object Name
content: pipe
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 15.8 cm x 3.6 cm; 6 1/4 in x 1 7/16 in