A manuscript on the theory of relativity by the physicist Albert Einstein was auctioned in Paris for the record sum of 11.6 million euros.
The 54-page document thus achieved much higher sales than expected at Christie's auction house on Tuesday evening.
Einstein wrote it in 1913 and 1914 with his colleague and confidante Michele Besso.
Christie's had estimated the value of the document before the auction at two to three million euros.
It is "undoubtedly the most valuable Einstein manuscript" that has ever been offered at auction.
The physicist's handwritten research manuscripts from this period are "extremely rare," said Christie's.
The auction started with a starting price of 1.5 million.
After just a few minutes, this amount skyrocketed.
In the end, two bidders engaged in a telephone battle over the manuscript by outbidding each other several times in 200,000 euro steps.
About a hundred onlookers watched the auction in the auction room.
The nationality of the buyer was initially not disclosed.
It was thanks to Einstein's confidante Besso that the manuscript that was now auctioned was still preserved, Christie's explained.
This is equivalent to a “miracle”, since it seems unlikely that Einstein would have kept a piece of paper that was created during the work process.
The manuscript deals with the general theory of relativity, in which Einstein built on his special theory of relativity with the famous formula E = mc², which he worked out in 1905.
Einstein's general theory of relativity, published in 1915, revolutionized mankind's understanding of the universe and important physical phenomena.
It is one of the great physical theories of the 20th century.
The light quantum hypothesis, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921, is another groundbreaking work by the Ulm-born scientist.
Einstein died in the United States in 1955 at the age of 76.
The auctioned manuscript was one of only two working documents by Einstein on the emergence of general relativity, the existence of which is known, Christie's explained.
In this sense it is an “extraordinary testimony” to Einstein's work and offers a “fascinating look into the spirit of the greatest scientist of the 20th century”.
Einstein's manuscripts have already generated revenues of millions in the past.
A letter about God went under the hammer in 2018 for 2.8 million euros, a letter about the secret of happiness brought in around 1.39 million euros in 2017.