Einstein created the impression that he had a lot of things figured out, thanks in part to the fact that he was the first real celebrity scientist.
Albert Einstein had problems remaining faithful to his wife and cousin, Elsa Einstein, during his second marriage. However, the wedding the father of modern physics had with his cousin was not exactly a happy one.
Elsa Einstein was born on 18 January 1876. Her father, Rudolf Einstein, worked in the textile industry. Her mother was called Fanny Koch, and her sisters were Paula and Hermine.
Elsa's father was Albert Einstein's uncle. Her mother was also a sister to Albert Einstein, which means they were first cousins.
Elsa met Albert when they were still young, and She would call him "Albertle" due to her Swabian dialect.
To the world, Elsa was the woman who managed to put Einstein in line. Albert was brilliant, and Elsa was there for him when he was seriously ill in 1917.
She was also his companion as he traveled widely once he gained celebrity status for his inventions.
Although the couple seemed happy in public, Albert and Elsa Einstein were dealing with many profound issues in private.
Elsa Einstein Was Married Before Meeting Albert
For Elsa, the marriage to Einstein was not her first. Before then, she had married Max Lowenthal in 1896.
Elsa and her husband lived in Hechingen, where his family also stayed.
Max Lowenthal was a textile trader. They had four children together, including a son who died soon after being born.
They got divorced in 1908. After Elsa divorced her first husband, she moved to an apartment just above her parents in Berlin.
After the divorce, she and her daughters started using her maiden name. She maintained the name after her marriage to Einstein.
Albert Einstein's Marriage To Mileva Maric
Before he married Elsa, Albert Einstein was married to Mileva Maric in 1903. She was a Serbian mathematician and incredibly supportive of him intellectually and emotionally as he struggled in his initial years as a scientist.
Over time, he was not as loving towards Maric as he was in the beginning. There was also evidence that he was cruel towards her.
In a letter he wrote to her, he discussed in detail the things she was to do for him while they were married.
The rules included keeping his clothes in order, getting three meals every day in his room, and expecting no affection from Einstein. She was also to leave his bedroom or study immediately without questions whenever he requested.
Elsa Einstein's Marriage To Albert Einstein
In 1912, Einstein was getting closer to Elsa, although he was still married to Maric. They had known each other in the past as cousins, but the relationship was now more romantic.
Maric learned about the affair and separated from him in 1914. They lived separated for five years until they finally divorced.
When he got sick, Elsa was quite caring toward Albert. In 1919, Albert and Maric got divorced. He sent Maric and their two sons to Zurich, and their divorce was finalized on 10 February 1919.
After the divorce, it did not take long for Albert and Elsa to get married. Elsa Einstein and Albert did not have any children of their own, but he raised his stepdaughters as his children.
For a short while, Elsa Einstein was his secretary. She spent most of her time with Einstein protecting him from unwelcome visitors. She was also responsible for motivating him to build their summer home.
Elsa Einstein managed the couple's finances and helped Albert in business matters with her practical and organizational skills. After all, he was too absentminded and focused on science to have a good grasp of their financial affairs.
It later became apparent that Einstein was not that keen about his marriage to Elsa after he confessed in a letter that her cousin's parents tried to force him into marriage.
Albert Einstein's Infidelity While Married To Elsa Einstein
Even though Albert was quite charmed with Elsa at first, his feelings for her changed as time went by. He started to have affairs with other young women.
When Elsa found out about one of these affairs, Albert wrote her a letter saying that "one should do what one enjoys." She had discovered that he was involved with one of her friends, Ethel Michanowski, for a short while.
The children Elsa had with her first husband still looked up to Einstein and saw him as a father figure. Albert was attracted to Ilse, Elsa's eldest daughter, regardless of this fact.
The attraction was so strong that Albert considered breaking things off with Elsa Einstein to propose to her 20-year-old daughter.
In 1933, Albert and Elsa Einstein moved from Germany to the United States due to growing antisemitism in Germany. Einstein was quite outspoken in his opposition to the Nazis over how they treated the Jews.
Additionally, they discovered that the government had seized their home. This made it clear that they could no longer live in Germany.
After moving to the US, they settled in Princeton, New Jersey. They had bought a house at 112 Mercer Street.
While in Princeton, Albert became a professor of theoretical physics at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey.
Elsa Einstein was married to Albert when he won the Nobel Prize for Physics.
Although he did not return the favor, Elsa Einstein was a caring and loyal wife to Einstein. She stuck by his side despite knowing about his infidelities.
Albert Einstein was quite open about his affairs. With his fame, he often welcomed the attention he got from women and even wrote about them in his letters to Elsa Einstein.
Elsa Einstein's Illness, Albert's Detachment
Soon after they moved to the United States, Elsa was informed that Ilse had cancer. She was in Paris, and her mother moved to be with her during her final days.
Unfortunately, once she went back to the United States in 1935 after her daughter died, Elsa developed liver and heart issues that got worse over time. Einstein reacted by retreating more into his work.
He had the habit of retreating whenever those around him needed him emotionally. It was like he sought comfort in science.
Even though Elsa Einstein had been there for Albert during the most challenging moments of his life, he was unable to return the favor when she needed him the most. He was a mathematical genius but entirely ill-equipped to deal with emotional challenges.
Ultimately, Elsa passed away on 20 December 1936 due to illness. She was in their Princeton home. In her lifetime, she had received over 1,300 letters from Albert while he was away from the family touring and lecturing.
Elsa Einstein's Death Was A Huge Blow To Albert
Elsa Einstein's death was a massive blow to Albert. A friend commented that it was the first time they had seen him cry.
Albert Einstein's marriages were far from perfect, and his emotional shortcomings had plenty to do with this problem. Nonetheless, he was not oblivious of his inability to have healthy and deep relationships.
In a letter to his friend's son after she passed away, he wrote that he was proud of the boy's father for staying with only one woman because that was something in which he "grossly failed, twice."
Elsa Einstein had a deep insight into the scientist the world has come to respect. She was pretty poetic in her description of Albert Einstein in one of her letters:
"Such a genius should be irreproachable in every respect. But nature does not behave this way, where she gives extravagantly, she takes away extravagantly."
However their marriage might have turned out, there is no doubt that Albert treasured Elsa Einstein deeply. That is why her death was such a devastating loss to him. He lost a companion and a friend who loved and stood by him despite all his flaws.
Even Elsa was astonished to see how her illness had affected Albert shortly before she died. She confessed that she never knew he loved her so much.