But I digress. Let’s go back to the beginning.
Gotta give the man his kudos. His first wife was a fellow
(or rather female) brainiac. Mileva Maric was one of the first women to study both
mathematics and physics in Europe, thus the collusion of two mega-brains. Which
might lead one to ask, don’t these two geniuses know where babies come from?
Apparently not, because Mileva gave birth to a baby girl before they married.
After two sons, this couple lost their chemistry, but Mr.
Smarty Pants Al suggested he and the missus stay together for the sake of the
children (Way to go, genius). And here’s where it gets ugly—and where I lost
respect for my former idol. Mr. E demanded Mileva still remain in the kitchen—a.k.a.
drawing up an agreement that demanded she bring him three meals a day, do his laundry
and, of course, expect nada in return. The really sad part is that silly Mileva
agreed. In the beginning anyway.
Such a union was doomed for a big bang, and Mileva filed for
divorce five years later. Our intellectual playboy was not immune to alimony
disputes either. The terms of the divorce dictated that Albert deposit his
Nobel payment of $21,000 (equivalent to ten times that amount today) in an
account for Mileva and the boys. Einstein didn’t comply.
Perhaps the man who understood the secrets of the universe
should have had a chat with Gregor Mendel, the father of genetics, because Smart
Al married his first cousin Elsa in 1919—after an affair that had been going on
during the five years his wife was kept barefoot and in the kitchen. And get this: before marrying Elsa, Einstein
considered marrying her daughter Ilse instead!
Fortunately, the eighteen year old was much smarter than her mamma and had
the good sense to not get involved with the theorist. Maybe the union with Elsa
was too much kinship, because playboy Al was involved with his secretary Bette
within four years. And a series of mistresses followed. It’s enough to make a
person say, “I think I’ll write a book.”
How do we know all of this about our love-mad scientist? In
1980 Elsa’s daughter gave 1,400 letters to Hebrew University. I repeat—1,400.
All this while lecturing, researching, and publishing papers. Mr. Einstein
clearly made no excuses for “not having time to write.”
6 comments:
Wow! wonderful information on a genius. Einstein was really a playboy at heart. I would have never guessed he was capable of all you described in your blog. Very interesting!!
The recent accusations of philandering among the icons of industries i.e. rich and famous is most certainly not new. I remember how shocked I was when I learned that Benjamin Franklin was shall we say "free with his affections".
While disheartened to learn of another great man who didn't keep his you-know-what in his pants, I'm thankful Elsa's daughter Ilse shared the letters and even more so that you've shared this bit of history.
I think of what I was taught in the history classes I loved - so much of it was so sanitized or liberally altered that seeing documentaries that show the truth is discouraging.
Just goes to show you, there IS such a thing as social/emotional intelligence. Even geniuses may be quite lacking in these areas.
Robin, where do you find this information? Think I'll nominate you to edit a history scandal sheet. This is much more interesting (though a tad depressing) than what Judith aptly describes as the "sanitized" history we were taught in school. And I agree with Sarah, the guy was a dunce in social/emotional intelligence.
"Papa was a rolling stone....."
Elsa would have been his second cousin, so therefore, a "better" match genetically. Still, can I just say Yeuww? Guess Einstein's libido jumped around as much as his intellectual interests.
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