Albert Einstein and Leo Szilárd’s Patent for Refrigerators
30-11-1929, Berlin and 5-12-1929, Budapest
17+5 sheets, typewritten on paper; 34 × 21 cm
National
Archives of Hungary
HU-MNL-OL – K 603 – E – 4162
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) needs no introduction. One of the most famous scientists of all time, Einstein is known for his revolutionary physical theories (especially the theory of relativity). His discoveries and theories completely re-shaped physics in the first decades of the twentieth century and they remain relevant today.
Less known is Leó Szilárd (1898-1964), a brilliant and very creative Hungarian-born physicist, who helped conduct the first sustained nuclear chain reaction and was instrumental in initiating the Manhattan Project. Szilárd was also the author of other discoveries, namely a process for separating isotopes, developed with British physicist T. A. Chalmers.
In the 1920s, Leó Szilárd met Albert Einstein during his physical studies in Berlin, and together they proposed several inventions.
The document shown here refers to one such invention. It is a patent for refrigerators submitted by Einstein and Szilárd in 1929. The rather primitive and dangerous design of the refrigerators used at the time led Einstein and Szilárd to propose a new, safe refrigerator. Their refrigerator was without rotating parts, and operated with an electromagnetic pump.
Plans of this invention were submitted by delegation on the 5th December 1929 to the Hungarian Royal Patent Court. On November 11, 1930, the patent was also awarded in the United States of America.
Despite its novelty, and the reputation of the inventors, the fridge was never actually manufactured. However the principle of the magnetic pump with coolant flow is still being used in nuclear power plants today.