Mileva Marić-Einstein

## **Mileva Marić**

### Biography

(Serbian Cyrillic: Милева Марић; 19 December 1875 – 4 August 1948), sometimes called **Mileva Marić-Einstein** (Serbian Cyrillic: Милева Марић-Ајнштајн, romanized: *Mileva Marić-Ajnštajn*), was a Serbian physicist and mathematician and the first wife of Albert Einstein from 1903 to 1919.

Marić was the only woman who was admitted to the State Polytechnic School (ETH) in Zurich in 1886, and only the fifth woman who got the opportunity to be educated at that academic institution. She was only the second woman who completed her entire studies at the Department of Mathematics and Physics, but failed to pass the professional exam.
In 1902, she gave birth to a daughter Lieserl (Lieserl Einstein) from an extramarital relationship with Einstein. Her first name was Ljubica. However, according to some, Lizerl fell ill early and died soon after birth, and according to others, she was given up for adoption in Serbia.

Mileva and Albert got married in 1903 and later had two sons, Hans Albert Einstein and Eduard. They separated in 1914, and Mileva returned to Zurich with her sons from Berlin. They were officially divorced on February 14, 1919, and he remarried the same year.

When Einstein won the Nobel Prize in 1921, he gave the money to Mileva so that she could support her sons.

In 1930, their son Eduard suffered a nervous breakdown and was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Eduard was soon hospitalized, and Mileva sold two of the three houses she owned with Albert.

Albert participated in the treatment of Eduardo even after he emigrated to the United States of America (USA) with his second wife, Elsa (Elsa Löwenthal Einstein).

The importance of Mileva Marić in the development of science, and especially Einstein's ideas and theories, is still widely debated today. While some claim that she actively helped him in his research and solved complex mathematical problems, others point out that her active involvement in Einstein's achievements cannot be proven.

### **Origin, childhood and education**

Mileva Marić was born in 1875 in the Vojvodina town of Titel. She was the eldest of the three children of Miloš Marić and Marija Ružić Marić.

Her hip was dislocated at birth, so Mileva struggled with this handicap all her life.

Shortly after her birth, Miloš ended his military career and first accepted a job at the court in Ruma, and later in Zagreb.

She grew up in numerous cities with her younger sister Zork and brother Miloš.

In 1886, Mileva entered the Women's High School in Novi Sad, but the following year she transferred to the High School in Sremska Mitrovica.

She was one of the most talented students when it comes to physics and mathematics. At the beginning of 1890, she attended the Royal Serbian School in Šabac, and a year later her father managed to enroll her in a high school in Zagreb, which before her was attended exclusively by boys. She passed the entrance exam and in 1892 started the tenth grade.

In February 1894, she received a special permit to attend physics lectures, and in September of the same year, she passed her final exams.

Her grades in physics and mathematics were among the best in school, and she received numerous awards.

In the same year, she became seriously ill, and decided to move to Switzerland and enroll in the Women's High School in Zurich.

In 1896, she passed her matriculation exam and enrolled in medicine at the University of Zurich.

After one semester, she switched to studying mathematics and physics at the State Polytechnic School (ETH). She passed the entrance exams with an average grade of 4.25 out of a possible 6. That's why she qualified to teach physics and mathematics in high schools, around the same time as Einstein. In a group of six students, she was the only woman, and only the fifth who managed to enroll at ETH, which was impressive because at that time women were not readily admitted to universities. They had to be extremely talented and pass numerous tests in order to enter ETH.

In October, she went to Heidelberg to study at the University of Heidelberg during the winter semester of 1897/1898. She returned to Zurich in April 1898 and attended lectures on differential and integral calculus, descriptive and projective geometry, mechanics, theoretical physics, applied physics, experimental physics and astronomy at ETH. She passed her graduation exam in 1899, one year after the students from her group. With an average grade of 5.05, she was fifth out of six students who graduated that year. She passed physics with an average grade of 5.5, the same as Einstein. However, a year later, she failed to pass the professional exam because her average was 4.0, and the average grade in mathematics was 2.5. Albert passed the exam with an average grade of 4.91.

### **Life with Einstein**

Albert who were almost four years younger than Milena met at university, and they hung out at the boarding school where she lived. She played the piano and Albert the violin. Love was born between them from friendship. While she was studying in Heidelberg, he often wrote to her that he missed her, and soon they became lovers. In 1901, her academic career was abruptly interrupted by the knowledge that she was expecting a baby with Einstein. She tried again to pass the professional exam, but the result was the same. She stopped working on her graduation thesis, which she wanted to develop into a doctoral dissertation under the mentorship of Professor Heinrich Weber.

She went to Novi Sad, and in January 1902 she gave birth to a daughter.

In the correspondence with Albert that has been preserved, it can be concluded that before her birth they wanted to name her Hansel, but Albert decided on the name Lisrel. Some sources say that the child was put up for adoption in Serbia, while others say that she died a year after birth.

In the same year, Mileva and Albert moved to Bern, where he got a job at the patent office.

They got married on January 6, 1903.

A year later, their first son - Hans Albert - was born. Albert lived in Bern until 1909, when he got a job as an associate professor of physics at the University of Zurich. He began to correspond with his cousin Elsa, whom he was in love with as a boy, and relations between him and Mileva deteriorated. Nevertheless, in order to save the marriage, they went on vacation together, and in 1910, Mileva gave birth to a second son, whom they named Eduard. In 1911, the family moved to Prague, because Einstein got a teaching job at Charles University. They didn't stay there for long either, but returned to Zurich the following year, where Albert took up a professorship at ETH.

In July 1913, Max Planick and Walther Nernst invited Einstein to Berlin. He gladly accepted the invitation, but Mileva did not agree with the decision to move to Germany because of her relationship with Elsa. In August, they decided to go on vacation with Marie Curie and her daughters.

Due to Eduard's illness, Mileva thought she should stay at home, but later she decided to join the others. In September 1913, they visited her relatives in Novi Sad, and the day before returning to Zurich, Mileva and her sons were baptized in the Orthodox church.

She and the children returned to Switzerland, and Einstein traveled to Germany to visit relatives. Since her husband decided to accept a job in Berlin, Mileva started looking for accommodation in the German capital. They arrived in Berlin in mid-April.

Relations between the spouses had been very strained since 1912 when Einstein came into contact with Elsa. Mileva, who never even wanted to move to Berlin, was very unhappy.

Soon, her husband determined a series of rules of behavior that she must follow if she wants to stay together. In 1914, Mileva returned to Zurich with the boys, and divorce became inevitable.

Einstein undertook to support the family financially. After five years of separation, they divorced on February 14, 1919.

Since it was widely "rumored" that Einstein would win the Nobel Prize, they agreed to pay the money into a Swiss bank account, into a fund for their sons. Mileva had the interest, but she could not use the rest of the funds without her ex-husband's permission.

After marrying Elsa in 1919, Einstein came to Zurich to discuss his sons and plans for the future with Mileva.

In November 1922, Albert Einstein received **the Nobel Prize.**

As they agreed, he transferred the money to the foundation for his sons, and Mileva could dispose of a part of that money.

According to the notes of Einstein's granddaughter Margot Einstein, the Nobel laureate invested the funds in the purchase of three apartments. Mileva and her children lived in one, and he rented the other two. Although financially well off, happiness for Mileva and her sons did not last long.

In 1930, when he was twenty years old, Eduard experienced a nervous breakdown, and doctors diagnosed him with schizophrenia. He was transferred to the psychiatric clinic of the University of Zurich.

Due to the massive spread of Nazism in Germany, Albert and Elsa moved to the United States.

In 1935, Mileva's mother Maria died, and three years later her sister Zorka also died. In 1938, the older son Hans Albert also emigrated to the USA with his family, and Mileva stayed with Eduard in Zurich. She sold two apartments in order to have enough money for his treatment. Debts were piling up, so she asked Albert to take ownership of the house she lived in so she wouldn't lose her home.

### **Death**

Eight years later, Einstein sold the house for 85,000 Swiss francs, but with the condition that the new owner would allow his ex-wife to stay there. However, Mileva soon received an official notice that her lease was up and she had to move out. Then she found out that 85,000 francs had been accidentally paid in her name, so Einstein demanded that he return the money. He threatened to exclude Eduardo from his will if Mileva did not return the 85,000 francs.

Eduardo's condition was getting worse, and after one violent attack, his mother fell ill.

Three months later, on August 4, 1948, Mileva Marić passed away.

She was buried at the Nordheim cemetery, and the general public found out about her grave only in 2004. Her younger son remained at the psychiatric clinic until 1965, when he died.

### **A scientist or "just" a wife in the shadow of a genius?**

When it comes to Mileva's contribution to science, there are two different theories. Many experts in the field of physics, as well as historians, claim that she had a great influence on Einstein's research and discoveries, and thus his great achievements.

On the other hand, there are those who say that Mileva was his partner and that she may have only helped him materially in his research.

Their first son, Hans Albert, once stated that his mother gave up science when she married Einstein. Some historians come to a concrete conclusion as to whether Mileva Marić participated in Albert's research based on the letters they sent to each other. Namely, Anastasia Heidi Larvoll, a Norwegian historian, is among those who claim that they wrote scientific papers together, and that their plan was to create and promote a genius scientist who would ensure the existence of the family.

Larvoll finds evidence for this claim in the letters that Einstein sent to Mileva. In them, you can read numerous and tender declarations of love, but also mathematical problems, the solutions of which he sought from her. On the other hand, Mileva's letters are few and incomplete, and Larvoll and a wider circle of historians believe that they were even censored. Namely, they claim that mathematical calculations and scientific instructions that she gave to her husband were removed from them.

Many find the reason for this type of cooperation in the very concept of time and the circumstances in which they lived. At that time, it was very rare and even forbidden for women to participate in scientific research.

Only a few dozen of them managed to acquire the right to study at prestigious universities and develop their talents. Larvoll adds that at that time only three women were involved in scientific research in Europe.

These claims are supported by the fact that Mileva Marić studied the photoelectric effect during her studies at the University of Heidelberg, and then also four-dimensional geometry, which is the mathematical basis of the theory of relativity.

What makes Einstein a genius today is precisely his conclusions about these scientific topics. He received the Nobel Prize in Physics for explaining the photoelectric effect.

Not diminishing the importance of Albert Einstein Avram Fedorovich Ioffe (Abrám Fëdorovič Ióffe), the Russian physicist stated that he held in his hands the original three of the scientist's most important articles signed "Einstein - Mariti". If you consider that the Swiss version of Mileva's last name is "Mariti", it can be concluded that she also had a share in his achievements.

On the other hand, there is a large number of those who believe that there is not enough evidence to confirm the suspicion that Mileva helped Albert during the development of his theories. Among them are even those who claim that the very letters suggest their cooperation, at least until 1901, before their children were born.