Liserl and Mileva--Einstein's Disposable Women

Looks like a Chuck Close of Albert Einstein, yes?  Well, its not--its just a heavily pixilated enlargement of Einstein's son, Hans Albert Einstein, who at age 3 or 4 looks pretty much like his father, very much so, actually. 

The Mona Lisa smile is another missing--discarded--piece of Einstein's life.  It belongs to his first wife, Mileva Maric.  She was by most accounts an accomplished mathematician, exceptionally intelligent, and a person of her own.  She nearly succeeded in the males' world of mathematics, but didn't .Few women did at that time in history--or at least few succeeded under their own name.  There's a lively debate among some that Mileva was instrumental in the development of the special theory of relativity (among other things) developed by Albert in 1904/5 and published in the Annalen der Physik in the annus mirabilis of 1905.  Personally I doubt that she contributed significantly to the theoretical composition of the theory; I haven't much of a doubt that she contributed materially to its development, being an intelligent and capable foil/sounding board/conversant with her husband.  As anyone who is a partner in a relationship of two intelligent people realizes, there is a lot of back and forth going on in the development and creation of ideas.  I don't have any doubt that something like that went on here.

But Albert was done with her by 1914 or so, living basically apart until their official divorce in 1919..  He had minimal relations with Hans Albert.  Eduard developed schizophrenia in his 20's and that was about it so far as his father was concerned--he was cared for by Mileva until her death in 1948 and then died in an institution in 1965.) And he was particularly done with his daughter Liserl, a baby that he made with Mileva. a girl who simply disappears.  She was born in 1901, and born in "secret"--though it was not a secret to her, or her mother.  She's gone by 1902.  Then her parents manage to marry in 1903.  The next year Albert tries again at fatherhood witrh Hans Albert, but I think his attention span for children has a relatively short event horizon.  Eduard is born in 1910, but the development of his mental disorder divorces him from hi sfather for good.  It is simply not a pretty story. 

Einstein went on his personal life full of what I see as complications, abandonments, deceptions; living with all sorts of shadows, with a hollowness, there, somewhere. 

I don’t really care to think about Albert's personal story, and I don't read his flea-combed biographies I'm perfectly happy to just deal with the intellectual history of his life and be satisfied with that.  But there are days like today, when I think about people celebrating his personal life--as in his birthday--that I sense the emptiness, and wonder about Hans Albert, and Mileva, and Eduard, and the Lost Girl, Liserl.  I think that rather than celebrating Einstein's personal milestones that we take a moment to remember the countable but countless lives like Mileva who are simply discarded, and that their lives meant as much to them as Einstein's life meant to him. 

At least Mileva derves a gravestone.

Michele Zackheim wrote an interesting book on Lieserl, Einstein's Daughter, if you're interested. 

Comments

[Ann Moore]

Thank you for your gorgeous view of science. If Sagan were still alive, I bet you would find him among your fans. His view of science as "organized wonder" fits you. Keep writing--the world needs your voice. Cheers from central NY!