While he may have been known more for his brilliance as a theoretical physicist, c also devoted time to write about several other topics including his thoughts on God, a toy engine one of his uncles had given him when he was a kid and even the status of his son's studies on geometry.
These letters, along with other written works known as the Einstein Letters, were made available for auction on Thursday at the Profiles in History in California.
Some of the letters were written by the great scientists in longhand, while others were typewritten. Some works were in English, others were in German.
Profiles in History founder Joseph Maddalena pointed out that the Einstein Letters provide a rare and interesting look at the theoretical physicist's thoughts outside of his scientific work.
Maddalena said the letters allow us to see the other side of Einstein's story, about how the scientist gave advice to his children and how he believed in God.
One of the works auctioned off was a letter Einstein wrote to one of his sons urging him to take the study of geometry more seriously.
In another letter to a son, Einstein explained how the atomic bombs that were dropped on Japan and his theory of relativity were connected.
The scientist also sent a letter to an uncle who was celebrating his 70th birthday at the time. The old man had given Einstein a small toy engine when he was young, and he told his uncle how the gift inspired him to follow a career in science.
In two of his letters, Einstein responded to a man who had asked him about God.
"I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one," Einstein wrote.
"You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist. I prefer an attitude of humility corresponding to the weakness of our intellectual understanding of nature and of our own being."
Einstein's letter to his son on the nature of the atomic bombs was sold for $62,000, while the letters on his belief about God were sold for $28,125 and $34,375 respectively. In all, the Einstein Letters fetched around $420,000.
Considered as one off the largest collections of personal writings by Einstein ever to be auctioned, the letters were amassed through the years by a private collector who requested to remain anonymous.
