Much is known about Albert Einstein . After all, it had a tremendous impact on the world of science and the entire world. In particular, the theory of relativity changed the scientific world forever.
However, little is known about the woman behind the world’s greatest genius.
Who was he and what role exactly did he play in our history?
Her name was Elsa Einstein . Let’s get to know him a little better.
1. Elsa was Einstein’s second wife.
Albert Einstein was married twice. His first marriage was to physicist and university classmate Mileva Marić .
Mileva is less well known. But recent research shows that it can contribute significantly to their groundbreaking scientific achievements. It is known that his marriage began as loving. The couple worked together professionally while Einstein was just a budding scientist.
However, things changed when a romantic relationship with Elsa began in 1912. The marriage eventually collapsed after 2 years. The divorce was not finalized until 1919. And he immediately married Elsa.
2. He was Einstein’s first cousin.
Cousins Elsa and Albert who married each other were cousins on both sides. Their fathers were cousins and their mothers were sisters. Both spent their childhood together and formed a strong friendship. He used to call her “with Albert” when he was younger.
As adults, they reconnected when Albert moved to Berlin for work. Elsa lived there with her two daughters. She had recently divorced her first husband. Albert used to visit often. A romantic relationship began between the two. And the rest, as we all say, “ours is a love story”…
3. He was a great cook and handled Einstein well.
In terms of personality, the difference between Elsa and Mileva; It was night and day.
Mileva had a scientific mind very similar to Albert’s. He loved to badger Albert about his work and always wanted to be involved. However, Elsa was a happy person and rarely complained.
After Mileva and the kids left, Albert fell ill. It was Elsa who brought him back to health. He didn’t know anything about physics. And that’s what Albert apparently liked about him.
4. He deliberately scared people of Albert Einstein.
It was widely known that Elsa served as a gatekeeper for Albert. At the height of his fame, Albert remained carefully silent. Albert wanted to avoid unnecessary social interactions and was not equipped to deal with it.
Elsa saw him and often drove away, even frightened, visitors.
Albert’s friends were initially skeptical of Elsa. They saw him as someone who sought fame and admired attention. But he soon proved himself to be a gifted friend to Einstein.
5. He managed his business.
Elsa had a practical and managerial mind.
This proved Albert useful when it comes to business deals.
Albert was not typically a scientist, often ignoring the unscientific. It was Elsa who lined up her schedule, touched her head, and made sure everything was okay between them.
He managed Albert’s finances and realized for the first time that his correspondence and manuscripts would have monetary value in the future.
She was also frequently seen traveling with Albert, and was a loved one when she appeared in public. He made Albert’s life easier by creating a nice working environment for him.
Elsa was also the driving force behind the building process of their summer home in Caputh near Potsdam.
6. He wrote letters to Albert Einstein almost daily.
Spreading from 1912 until Einstein’s death in 1955, 1300 letters were published in 2006. The collection belonged to Einstein’s stepdaughter, Margot, and was released 20 years after his death.
The letters gave insight into Albert’s personal life. Most of the letters were written to his wife, who seemed to do it almost every day he was away from her. In his letters, he described his European travels and the experiences of his tutor.
In a postcard, she said about the downsides of her fame:
“Soon I will get tired of (theory) relativity. Even something like this gets lost when it gets too involved with it. ”
7. Albert was open to Elsa about his extramarital affairs.
It seems that Albert Einstein’s genius did not extend to his personal life. The physicist attracted a lot of attention from women. And apparently, it wasn’t all undesirable.
The same documents released in 2006 contained candid letters to Elsa explaining their extramarital affair. In a letter, after confronting him about having an affair with one of his close friends, Albert wrote:
“Ms. M strictly followed the best Christian-Jewish morality: 1) one should do whatever one likes and does not harm anyone; and 2) the person should avoid doing things that are not enjoyable and that make another person uncomfortable. 1 because he came with me, and 2) he didn’t tell you anything. ”
Among the women named in his correspondence were Margarete, Estella, Toni, Ethel, and even Margarita, the “Russian spy lover.”
Did he regret the way he cheated?
Apparently, he was at least aware of her flaws. He wrote in a letter like a young gentleman:
“What I admire about your father is that he only stayed with one woman his whole life. This is a project I’ve failed badly twice. ”
8. Elsa accepted Albert despite all her flaws.
Elsa had little reason to remain faithful to her husband. But he seemed to have accepted her completely, even his faults.
In a letter, he poetically explained his views on her:
“Such a genius would have to be irreparable in every way. But nature does not behave in this way, it gives exaggeratedly, exaggeratesly escapes. ”
9. He said to Albert, who was considering marriage with his daughter Ilse, “As long as you are happy”
Another surprising revelation from Albert’s troubling personal life is the fact that he nearly gave up on getting engaged to Elsa and proposed to Elsa’s daughter, Ilse, instead.
At the time, Ilse was working as a secretary at the Prussian Academy of Sciences while he was the director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics.
Confused, she wrote in an explanatory letter to a close friend:
“Albert himself refuses to decide; He is ready to marry my mother or me. I know that A. loves me very much, maybe more than other people, he also said yesterday. ”
Even more bizarre is that Elsa is willing to step aside if it makes Ilse happy. However, Ilse soon did not feel the same for her stepfather. He loved her, yes: but only as a father.
Speculation continues to this day as to whether the relationship was ever exhausted. Elsa and Albert married the following year and remained married until his death.
10. Albert Einstein mourned deeply after Elsa’s death.
Einstein was many things. But what he lacked was the emotional side. He didn’t look like a normal person. In fact, if you take a close look at his personal life, you’ll notice that he has a tendency to emotional detachment.
Whether he loved Elsa deeply or valued her only as a trusted friend, we can never know for sure his love for her. What we do know is that he mourned deeply after her death.
Shortly after Elsa moved to the United States in 1935, she fell ill with heart and kidney problems. Shortly before his death, he told a friend in surprise about how his illness had affected Albert:
“I never thought you loved me this much.”
He died on December 20, 1936.
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