Long-Lost Letter Reveals Einstein’s Discussion on Animals' Super Senses

An old letter from Professor Albert Einstein might have just decoded interesting thoughts on animal senses even before empirical evidence was introduced to the world 7 decades later.

While Einstein is mostly famous for his expertise on Theoretical Physics than Biology, his letter dated 18th October 1949 to Mr. Glyn Davys in England referencing von Frisch's lecture on sensory perception led researchers to believe that he is quite competitive in other scientific fields as well.

The original letter from recipient, Davys, was unretrievable at this time, but Einstein's reply letter suggests ideas of animal perception which was not known at the time.

Potential Relationship of Biology and Physics

Judging from the letter's contents, it looks like the famous scientist was answering to a certain inquiry from Davys, referencing the work of the Nobel Laureate Karl von Frisch. Von Frisch is famous for his experimental study on understanding bee behavior and its sensory perception.

Von Frisch suggests that honeybees navigate direction and distance from the hive to a flower through a symbolic dance language, and polarization pattern of the sky is an 'effective indication for bee orientation'.

This study inspired biologists and generations of interdisciplinary research on biological discoveries and physics principles. Einstein himself met von Frisch personally after attending one of his lectures at Princeton University. "I am well acquainted with Mr. v. Frisch's admirable investigation," he said on his letter.

When the new research findings on bee sensory perception was enabled for public access on 7th of July 1949, Engineer Glyn Davys must have found it fascinating which encouraged him to write to Einstein inquiring about the implication of physics to the biological organism and to developing new technology. Einstein's reply letter was non-existent until Davys' death in 2011.

It appears that Einstein admired von Frisch's research, but he was not fully convinced that the result concerns the basis of physics. ""I cannot see a possibility to utilize those results in the investigation concerning the basis of physics," he replied to Davys.

However, it looks like Einstein was open to possibilities of undiscovered sensory cues, and he believed further biological researches are necessary. "Such could only be the case if a new kind of sensory perception, resp. of their stimuli, would be revealed through the behavior of the bees".

Implication to Future Studies

In irony to his statement, it was found out in recent times that the bee discovery influenced novel and interesting studies about how the world is perceived in alternative ways. Development in various technologies like that of sensors, robotics, and artificial intelligence were some of its successes.

At the end of his letter, Einstein wrote, "It is thinkable that the investigation of the behavior of migratory birds and carrier pigeons may someday lead to the understanding of some physical process which is not yet known."

70 years later, this was proven right through an evidence which showed birds can see Earth's magnetic fields through a protein in their eyes, enabling them to navigate during migration. Other species also showed the same ability, even humans.

Although Einstein's assumption was not completely right, he sure has predicted something unthinkable in his time, and that with further research, he himself could have discovered what was already known now.