Einstein is one of the most prominent physicists known globally, though, little is known of his first wife, Mileva Maric, whom he wedded until he fell for another. Mileva Maric has been highly regarded amongst historical debaters, predominantly centered on her contributions to Einstein's scientific feats. The question is still open, however: Was Mileva Maric one of the many impeded, discounted female scientists of her time?
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Albert Einstein, Pixabay. Copyright Free Image
Mileva Maric (b. 1875 - d. 1948), or Mileva Maric-Einstein, lived in Titel, Austria-Hungary (present-day Serbia) who went to Switzerland to further and expand her studies as a talented pupil of mathematics and physics. She was Einstein's first wife whom he, Einstein, met in the year 1896 in the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich. She was in the same class as Einstein, having also admitted into the institution in October 1896. She invested her time studying the same subjects as Einstein, though she spent her time studying for a semester at the University of Heidelberg. Einstein and Maric corresponded with each other at that time, with Einstein referring to her as "Dollie", encouraging her to return soon. After her return, their friendship developed into a relationship. She is also worth noting when regarding Einstein's education because he managed to 'self-study' with her most of the time. He would share his readings (such as Maxwell's Laws), while also exploring their affinity for physics altogether. Although excelling in some classes Einstein did not, (i.e. Peirnet's Practical Physics course), she was not able to graduate after having failed her final exam in 1900, whereas Einstein successfully graduated and began his search for work. Even if she had attempted to pass the final exam, her attempts were unsuccessful while discovering that she was pregnant with Einstein's child. With that, she moved with Einstein in order to support his work.
With Einstein asking for a divorce in 1916 (Einstein had asked to file it after having fallen for his cousin, Elsa Lowenthal - his second wife), Maric had moved herself and her children back to Switzerland after a few months of staying with him in Berlin. After World War I, with the divorce being finalized, she wanted to initiate a condition between them in which Maric would receive the monetary prize of his Nobel Prize - if he ever won one. But, of course, Einstein had won a Nobel Prize for Physics in 1921 and sent the monetary award to his first wife.
The controversy has concluded that Maric did not co-author nor contributed to Einstein's scientific feat. In fact, according to the MIT Technology Review, the considerable theory of that happening was rejected by most physicists and historians of science. Walker reignited the controversy in his Physics Today article, titled Mileva Maric's Relativistic Role, in which he implies that Einstein took credit for Maric's ideas, considering the letters. For the most part, he referenced letters between Einstein and Maric, though Maric's letters (he mentioned) are scarce.
"Another eight letters have only a single brief reference to science each, references that are no longer than can be found in four of Mileva's letters to him. This means we cannot judge Mileva's contribution based on the very limited number of her letters that have survived... Judging by Albert's complaints when he has not received a letter from Mileva after such short periods as four or even three days - 'It's already the fourth day... [and she] has not uttered a single word' and 'Three days have passed without my having received a letter' - her custom must have been to write him as often as he wrote her, rather than with the infrequency..."
Even so, historians and theorists invested in the controversy translated these letters sent between Einstein and Maric into English. Galina Weinstein, a scholar at The Centre for Einstein Studies at Boston University, has analyzed the letters in-depth, only to discover that "two lines of evidence suggest that this was unlikely". The following quote was extracted from the MIT Technology Review, working in tandem with Weinstein's analysis:
"First, Einstein’s letters are full of his ideas about physics while Maric’s contain none, suggesting that he was using her as a sounding board rather than a collaborator."
In addition, Weinstein had suggested that most people knew Einstein was bound to receive the monetary award, while also taking into account the context that both Einstein and Maric divorced in 1919 - Maric, who did not desire a divorce "and was suffering from depression" (a more likely toll on her mental health given the heartbreak she's experienced).
Despite the insubstantial evidence, there were many contenders advocating that Maric was indeed a collaborator in Einstein's paper since Mileva Maric "can be observed sharing her Albert's scientific and mathematical enthusiasms" (Does Albert Einstein's first wife Mileva Maric deserve credit for some of his work?). Nonetheless, critics still persist, arguing, that the collaboration was overexaggerated. All of these letters were compiled and published under two separate titles: Albert Einstein/Mileva Maric: The Love Letter and - the most popular amongst us today - The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. At some point, Einstein distinguished Maric's part in his paper, writing:
"The local Prof Weber is very nice to me and shows interest in my investigations. I gave him our paper. If only we would soon have the good fortune to continue pursuing this lovely path together."
And within the analysis detailed in the article "Does Albert Einstein's first wife Mileva Maric deserve credit for some of his work?":
In another letter he said: “I am very curious whether our conservative molecular force will hold good for gases as well.”
With words such as "our" and "we", it can be easily concluded that they did begin this idea together, while he initiated the investigation.
But then there existed highly controversial claims and responses to them. One of those claims had been borne out of a Soviet physicist Abraham Joffe, who described having seen and witnessed the interaction and encounter he had with Einstein in their early careers in a published article - shortly after Einstein's death in 1955. He proceeded with having seen the first three drafted submissions of Einsteins, with an author "-an unknown person at that time, was a bureaucrat at the Patent Office in Bern, Einstein-Marity" (MIT Technology Review) - Note: Marity is the Hungarian variant of Maric. To some interpretations, this accounts for the collaboration between the two, beginning with a Russian writer of science, Daniil Semenvich Danin. This allowed for the transformed information established that Mileva Maric did co-author his 1905 Relativity Paper and was unjustly removed from the scientific feat that has been published for years - which, of course, Weinstein would later argue that this responsive proclamation was false.
There are innumerable interpretations of her contributions and variations of her story, indicating that -whether or not she collaborated with Einstein entirely - Maric is still a note-worthy woman who's explored the field of physics which was typically reserved for men. But, to point out, it is hard to follow the story - especially someone in her time and setting, how it actually played out, without any much more evidence supporting whether she was truly a co-author or the brilliant mind behind the entire invention of these papers OR the woman uncredited for her work regardless of how much she petitioned.
Additional Video regarding their relationship (highly recommended):
REFERENCES
Banovic, Rebecca. “Does Albert Einstein’s First Wife Mileva Maric Deserve Credit for Some of His Work?” The Independent | The Independent, 13 June 2018, www.independent.co.uk/news/long_reads/mileva-maric-albert-einsten-physics-science-history-women-a8396411.html.
Emerging Technology. "Did Einstein’s First Wife Secretly Coauthor His 1905 Relativity Paper?" DOI: arxiv.org/abs/1204.3551
“Mileva Einstein-Maric.” Biography, 15 July 2020, www.biography.com/historical-figure/mileva-einstein-maric.
Tibees. “Einstein’s Divorce Letters.” YouTube, 26 July 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2Y-XGcBwWc.
Tibees. “Einstein’s Grades 👀.” YouTube, uploaded by Tibees, 10 Apr. 2020, www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zwZsjlJ-G4.
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