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History of Science & Technology, Including the Nobel Prize and Papers of Richard P. Feynman

Sotheby’s is thrilled to announce that in the year of the centenary of his birth, the Nobel Prize, papers and personal research library of the brilliant, inspiring, and much-beloved theoretical physicist Richard P. Feynman will headline our second annual History of Science & Technology auction this November 30th in New York. The group is led by the Nobel Prize – including its associated presentation materials – that Feynman shared in 1965 with Julian Schwinger and Shin’ichiro Tomonaga “for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics.” The offering also features a remarkable and enlightening collection of manuscripts spanning the full length of Feynman’s career –from his early days at Los Alamos and Cornell though his final days at Caltech, and includes topics such as the atom bomb, QED, Nanotechnology, Computing, and much more. It is the only known collection of manuscripts by Feynman to exist outside of the archive at Caltech, where Feynman taught for nearly 4 decades.

The History of Science & Technology sale will also include books & manuscripts, scientific & technological instruments, original artwork, and other artifacts spanning from the 16th–21st centuries in categories ranging from physics, mathematics, and cryptography, to medicine, biology, computing, and astronomy. Included is a single owner collection of magnificent 15th-19th century books & scientific instruments including early astronomical treatises and celestial atlases, many hand-colored, and spectacular planetary models, including armillary spheres, orreries, telluriums, and more. The breathtaking work of Neuroscientist-turned artist Dr. Gregg Dunn and paper sculptor Rogan Brown will also be included, in what will be an auction debut for both of these highly talented and totally original artists.