Einstein Was A Jerk (#163)
Einstein is legendary. With good reason. But did you know, he was also quite a jerk?
A new biography about his first wife Milena Marić reveals some details of Einstein‘s behavior in his first marriage.
Einstein met Marić at the university and when they married, a lot has already happened between the two. His mother was against the union (she said Marić was too old), but Marić was already pregnant and gave birth to their daughter in Novi Sad. The girl was given up for adoption and probably died of scarlet fever without Einstein ever seeing her. Marić came back to Switzerland and they married, although Einstein reported to have done it out of obligation. Marić then does the housework and cares for their two sons Hans Albert and Eduard – burying her own academic ambitions.
Then it gets mean. When Einstein was moving to Berlin, he gives Marić an ultimatum: She’s only allowed to live with him, when she does the laundry, serves him “proper” food three times a day and stops talking to him immediately when he tells her to. Marić didn’t stay for long and left with their sons. To that time, Einstein had already started an affair with his cousin Elsa, who he later married. Marić threatens to pulish her memoires, whereupon Eintein replies: “[…] you should be humble and shut up. That’s what you should do.”
But he didn’t get along with his sons either. With Hans Albert, Einstein had a dispute because he considered Hans’ wife to be too old and genetically inferior because of her small stature. To his psychologically unstable son Eduard, he writes: „The deterioration of the race is a curse, if not one of the worst. That’s why I can’t forgive this sin.“
This kind of puts Einstein in a bad light. No matter how fast it travels.
https://www.sueddeutsche.de/wissen/albert-einstein-frau-mileva-maric-relativitaetstheorie-1.4412479-0#seite-2