Its similar - there are at least a couple different theories on how it may happen. In one, earth's crust decouples from the mantle, and the weight of the ice of the poles causes the whole crust to shift, 45 degrees or so. Einstein was even open to the idea, up until his death. Then 10 years later or so Chan Thomas put out his Adam and Eve story describing what he thought happened, and the CIA classified it. They finally declassified only a small portion of it in 2013, 50 years after he had written it.
ChatGPT summary on Einstein's relation to the idea:
Yes. Albert Einstein seriously entertained the possibility that Earth's crust could periodically shift relative to the planet's rotational axis, potentially causing enormous geographical and climatic changes. And we have unusually strong documentary evidence of his thinking: personal letters, mathematical arguments, and a foreword he wrote endorsing further investigation of the idea.
What's particularly interesting is that Einstein went considerably further than simply saying the hypothesis deserved investigation. At one point, he expressed the belief that repeated, relatively rapid shifts of Earth's crust had actually occurred.
However, there's an important distinction: Einstein wasn't proposing that the entire Earth periodically flipped over or reversed its rotation. He was considering whether the planet's relatively rigid outer crust could move over the underlying layers, effectively relocating the geographic poles relative to the continents.
1. The strongest evidence: Einstein's correspondence with Charles Hapgood
Bonhams : EINSTEIN, ALBERT. 1879-1955. Carbon Copy of a Letter to William Farrington ANNOTATED AND DIAGRAMMED in ink and pencil by Einstein describing in mathematical detail the action of force on the earth's crust,
In the early 1950s, Einstein corresponded with Charles Hapgood, an American researcher developing a theory called Earth Crust Displacement.
Hapgood believed that ice accumulated unevenly near the poles could create rotational forces large enough to shift the crust, possibly repeatedly throughout geological history.
Einstein corresponded with him between 1952 and 1955 and contributed the foreword to Earth's Shifting Crust.
November 24, 1952 — Initial interest
Einstein told Hapgood he had encountered the idea that uneven polar ice could cause significant movements of the crust.
He wrote:
"A careful study of this hypothesis is really desirable."
He also cautioned that geological and paleontological evidence would be essential because the available knowledge was insufficient to settle the matter through mathematical calculations alone.
May 8, 1953 — A much stronger endorsement
This is arguably the most revealing letter.
After examining Hapgood's evidence, Einstein wrote:
"I find your arguments very impressive and have the impression that your hypothesis is correct."
He went on to say that substantial shifts of the crust appeared to have occurred repeatedly and over short periods.
That's a striking statement. It shows that, at least at that point, Einstein regarded the occurrence of relatively rapid historical crustal shifts as more than just a speculative possibility.
January 1954 — Einstein examines the physics
Einstein didn't just lend his famous name to Hapgood's theory.
In correspondence with geologist William Farrington, he worked through mathematical questions about whether an off-center mass could create sufficient force to displace Earth's crust.
A surviving letter contains handwritten equations, angles, and a diagram.
He concluded:
"I think that the idea of Mr. Hapgood has to be taken quite seriously."
This is particularly important evidence because it demonstrates active engagement with the proposed mechanism, not merely an enthusiastic reaction to an interesting theory.
2. Einstein's 1954 foreword: his most definitive public statement
In May 1954, Einstein wrote a foreword for Hapgood's book, eventually published in 1958, three years after Einstein's death.
He described Hapgood's idea as original and potentially important to our understanding of Earth's history.
He laid out the proposed mechanism: unevenly accumulated polar ice could produce centrifugal effects, eventually shifting the crust relative to the Earth's interior.
But he also identified a crucial uncertainty: whether the crust could actually move sufficiently easily over the underlying material.
In other words, Einstein found both the historical evidence and the physical reasoning intriguing, but he had not established that the mechanism would work.