The EPP General Inbox

The pace and atmosphere of an academic research project does not always match that of contemporary day-to-day life. Steeped decades back in time, the Einstein Papers Project's current research for our next two volumes covers June 1927 through June 1931. Even absorbed in parsing the past, with Albert Einstein as the keystone of our project's existence, we are keenly aware of his present-day popularity. We use two simple tools to monitor folks' interest in Einstein and, by extension, in the work we do. One is our visitor log; it documents how admired a figure Einstein is, across cultures and continents. Two is the general inbox, the catchall email address most businesses have, where queries and comments land requiring attention, filtering, and forwarding.

Organizing is the stuff of work life. In the driest terms, the Einstein Papers Project's job is to gather, sort and repackage the data comprising the record of Einstein's life and work. The information that is within our reach, we process, organize and, in turn, put within reach of all who are interested. The work of the project, The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, is an ambitious undertaking that will continue beyond most of its current staff's retirement. More importantly, the depth and thoroughness of research in our books should be of use and interest well beyond the scope of any future editors' retirement. While we keep at our tasks, the general public occasionally drops by and the general inbox continues to ping.

In the grand scheme of a large-scale, history of science project focused on a titan of 20th century science, the individual questions landing in the inbox and even their answers might seem insignificant. The fact of the matter is that the questions are still important. Continue reading...