Great And Terrible: Two Strange Marriages Of Albert Einstein - Alternative View

Great And Terrible: Two Strange Marriages Of Albert Einstein - Alternative View
Great And Terrible: Two Strange Marriages Of Albert Einstein - Alternative View

Video: Great And Terrible: Two Strange Marriages Of Albert Einstein - Alternative View

Video: Great And Terrible: Two Strange Marriages Of Albert Einstein - Alternative View
Video: Mileva Marić - Albert Einstein's Forgotten Wife | Science Fiction | Spark 2024, March
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Companions of geniuses often become not only their muses, but also witnesses and hostages of the other side of their genius. Albert Einstein in everyday life was distinguished by a difficult character, and it was very difficult to get along with him. He was married twice, and both of his wives had to put up with his exactingness, inconsistency, lack of morality and strange attitudes towards marriage.

Mileva Maric and Albert Einstein
Mileva Maric and Albert Einstein

Mileva Maric and Albert Einstein.

Einstein met his first wife while studying at the Polytechnic. Mileva Marich was 21 and he was 17. Einstein's parents were categorically against this marriage, but he did not listen to anyone. “I have lost my mind, I am dying, I am burning with love and desire. The pillow you sleep on is a hundred times happier than my heart! You come to me at night, but, unfortunately, only in a dream,”he wrote to Mileva in 1901. But the period of passionate confessions passed very quickly. Even before the wedding, in 1902, Mileva gave birth to a daughter, and her husband unexpectedly insisted on giving her up for adoption to childless relatives "due to material difficulties." The fact that Einstein had a daughter, Lieserl, became known only in 1997, when his great-grandchildren sold letters at auction that shed light on some episodes of the scientist's biography.

Mileva Maric and Albert Einstein
Mileva Maric and Albert Einstein

Mileva Maric and Albert Einstein.

And even after that, Mileva, despite the protests of her parents, agreed to marry her chosen one. But she was shocked when the groom suddenly put forward his demands: “If you want to get married, you will have to agree to my terms, here they are: first, you will take care of my clothes and bed; secondly, you will bring me food three times a day to my office; thirdly, you will refuse all personal contact with me, except for those that are necessary for the maintenance of decency in society; fourth, whenever I ask you about it, you will leave my bedroom and study; fifth, without words of protest, you will carry out scientific calculations for me; sixth, you will not expect any manifestations of feelings from me. Surprisingly, Mileva accepted these conditions.

Wedding photo with Mileva, 1903
Wedding photo with Mileva, 1903

Wedding photo with Mileva, 1903.

Albert Einstein with his first family
Albert Einstein with his first family

Albert Einstein with his first family.

In 1904, they had a son, Hans Albert, the only successor of the Einstein family - their son Eduard, born in 1910, suffered from schizophrenia and ended his days in a psychiatric hospital. However, neither the wife's fulfillment of the conditions of this strange marriage "manifesto", nor the birth of children, nor the constant assistance to the husband in his scientific activity saved this marriage from collapse. They divorced in 1919, although in fact their family broke up in 1914.

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Great scholar and unbearable husband
Great scholar and unbearable husband

Great scholar and unbearable husband.

Mileva also accepted the terms of the divorce, and they were also specific: in exchange for her voluntary consent to leave, her husband promised to give her the Nobel Prize - and Einstein had no doubt that he would someday receive it, however, like his wife. Mileva was very upset about the divorce, she even had to seek help from psychoanalysts, since she could not cope with prolonged depression on her own. To the scientist's credit, he kept his word - becoming a Nobel laureate, he gave his ex-wife 32 thousand dollars.

Albert Einstein and his second wife Elsa
Albert Einstein and his second wife Elsa

Albert Einstein and his second wife Elsa.

3 months after the divorce, the scientist married again - to his cousin Elsa, who, shortly before that, maternally took care of him during his illness. Einstein agreed to adopt two girls from Elsa's previous marriage, and in the early years an idyll reigned in their house. Charlie Chaplin, who visited them, spoke of the scientist's second wife: “From this woman with a square figure, vitality was beating. She frankly enjoyed the greatness of her husband and did not hide it at all, her enthusiasm even won over."

Einstein with his second wife Elsa, 1922
Einstein with his second wife Elsa, 1922

Einstein with his second wife Elsa, 1922.

Albert Einstein and his second wife Elsa
Albert Einstein and his second wife Elsa

Albert Einstein and his second wife Elsa.

However, traditional family foundations and values were completely alien to the great scientist. No matter how he tried to create a harmonious union, his nature took over and destroyed harmony. Later, about one of his friends, Einstein wrote: "Most of all I admired his ability to live for many years, not only in peace, but also in true harmony with a woman - I tried to solve this problem twice, and both times failed in disgrace."

Great scholar and unbearable husband
Great scholar and unbearable husband

Great scholar and unbearable husband.

Einstein, his second wife Elsa and adopted daughter Margot
Einstein, his second wife Elsa and adopted daughter Margot

Einstein, his second wife Elsa and adopted daughter Margot.

Einstein was very loving, and in his many hobbies, he knew no moral limits. Elsa listened to her husband's complaints that women would not give him access. She had to put up with his constant connections on the side, his first mistress appeared a few months after the wedding. He even brought his women to his and Elsa's house. Nevertheless, this marriage lasted until Elsa's death in 1936.

Great scholar and unbearable husband
Great scholar and unbearable husband

Great scholar and unbearable husband.

Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein.

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