Mileva Marić

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Mileva Marić

Mileva Marić
Born December 19, 1875(1875-12-19)
Titel, Vojvodina, Austria-Hungary (present day Republic of Serbia)
Died August 4, 1948 (aged 72)
Zurich, Switzerland
Resting place Friedhof Nordheim, Zurich, Switzerland
Ethnicity Serbian
Alma mater Eidgenössisches Polytechnikum today Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH) Zurich, Switzerland
Religious beliefs Serbian Orthodox
Spouse(s) Albert Einstein
Children Lieserl Marić, Hans Albert Einstein, Eduard Einstein
Parents Marija Marić née Ružić and Miloš Marić

Mileva Marić (December 19, 1875 – August 4, 1948; Serbian Cyrillic: Милева Марић) was a Serbian mathematician, one of the first women to study physics and mathematics in Europe, and the first wife (1903–1919) of Albert Einstein. (In the light of her failure to obtain the Zurich Polytechnic diploma to teach mathematics and physics and the absence of any confirmed work in mathematics at a higher level, however, there is some dispute as to whether she can be accurately described as a mathematician.)[1]

Contents

[edit] Personal life

Mileva Einstein about 1903

On December 19, 1875, Mileva Marić was born into a wealthy family in Titel, in the province of Vojvodina (then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, today in the Republic of Serbia). She was the oldest of three children of Milos Maric (1846-1922) and Marija Ruzic - Maric (1847-1935). Shortly after her birth, her father ended his military career and took a job at the court in Ruma and later in Zagreb. She began her secondary education in 1886 at a high school for girls in Novi Sad.[2], but changed the following year to a high school in Sremska Mitrovica.[3] Beginning in 1890, she attended the Royal Serbian Grammar School in Sabac.[3] In 1891 her father obtained special permission to enroll Marić as a private student at the all male Royal Classical High School in Zagreb.[4] She passed the entrance exam and entered the tenth grade in 1892. She won special permission to attend physics lectures in February 1894 and passed the final exams in September 1894. Her grades in mathematics and physics were the highest awarded.[4] That year she fell seriously ill and decided to move to Switzerland, where on the 14th November she started at the "Girls High School" in Zurich.[5] In 1896, Marić passed her Matura-Exam, and started studying medicine at the University of Zurich for one semester.[5] In the autumn of 1896, Marić switched to the Zurich Polytechnic (later Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule (ETH)),[6] having passed the mathematics entrance examination with an average grade of 4.25 (scale 1-6).[7]. She enrolled for a diploma course to teach physics and mathematics in secondary schools at the same time as Albert Einstein. She was the only woman in her group of six students, and only the fifth woman to study mathematics and physics at the Polytechnic.[8] She and Einstein became close friends quite soon.

In October Marić went to Heidelberg to study at Heidelberg University for the winter semester 1897/98, attending physics and mathematics lectures as an auditor.[9] She rejoined the Zurich Polytechnic in April 1898,[9] where her studies included the following courses: differential and integral calculus, descriptive and projective geometry, mechanics, theoretical physics, applied physics, experimental physics, and astronomy.[10] Because of the semester spent in Heidelberg, Marić sat the intermediate diploma exam in 1899, one year later than the rest of her group, achieving a grade average of 5.05 (on scale 1–6). This placed her fifth out of six students; Einstein had come top of the group with a grade average of 5.7. In physics, however, she got 5½, the same as Einstein.[11]

But in 1900, Marić failed her Zurich Polytechnic teaching diploma examinations.[12] In the mathematics component (theory of functions) her grade [2½] was less than half that of the other four candidates, and her grade average was 4.00 compared with Einstein's 4.91.[13]

Marić's academic career was disrupted in 1901 when she became pregnant by Einstein. When three months pregnant, she resat the diploma examination, but failed for the second time without improving her grade.[14] She also discontinued work on her diploma dissertation that she had hoped to develop into a Ph.D. thesis under the supervision of the physics professor Heinrich Weber.[15] She went to Novi Sad, where her daughter, Lieserl, was born in 1902, probably in January. Her fate is unknown: she may have died in late summer 1903, or been given up for adoption.

In 1903 Marić and Einstein married in Bern, Switzerland, where Einstein had found a job at the Federal Office for Intellectual Property. In 1904 their first son Hans Albert was born. The Einsteins lived in Bern until 1909, when Einstein got a teaching position at the University of Zürich. In 1910 their second son Eduard was born. In 1911 they moved to Prague, where Einstein held a teaching position at the German University. A year later, they returned to Zurich, as Einstein had accepted a professorship at his alma mater. In July 1913 Max Planck and Walther Nernst asked Einstein to accept to come to Berlin, which he did, but which caused Marić distress.[16] In August the Einsteins took a walking holiday with their son Hans Albert, Marie Curie and her two daughters, but Marić was delayed temporarily due to Eduard's illness.[17] In September the Einsteins visited Marić's parents near Novi Sad, and on the day they were to leave for Vienna Marić had her sons baptised as Orthodox Christians.[18] After Vienna Einstein visited relatives in Germany while Marić returned to Zurich. After Christmas she traveled to Berlin to stay with Fritz Haber who helped her look for accommodation for the Einsteins' impending move in April 1914.[19] The Einsteins both left Zurich for Berlin in late March, on the way Einstein visited an uncle in Antwerp and then Ehrenfest and Lorentz in Leiden while Marić took a holiday with the children in Locarno, arriving in Berlin in mid-April.[20] In May Ehrenfest noted that Marić was pining for Switzerland, and in summer she took the boys back to Zurich, to a boarding house, never to return to Albert.[21] By the end of 1914 the couple's friends realised the marriage had collapsed; Marić moved to a flat on Voltastrasse and Einstein promised her an annual maintenance of 5600 Reichsmarks [22][23]

The couple divorced on February 14, 1919.[24] They had negotiated a settlement whereby the Nobel Prize money that Einstein anticipated he would soon receive was to be placed in trust for their two boys, while Marić would be able to draw on the interest, but have no authority over the capital without Einstein's permission,[25][26] After Einstein married his second wife in June, he returned to Zurich to talk to Marić about the children's future, taking Hans Albert on Lake Constance and Eduard to Arosa for convalescence.

In 1922, Einstein received news that he had won the Nobel Prize in November and the money was transferred to Marić in 1923. The money was used to buy three houses in Zurich: Marić lived in one, a five story house at Huttenstrasse 62, the other two were investments.[27] The family of Georg Busch, later to become Professor at the ETH, was one of her tenants. In the late 1930s the costs of Eduard's care — he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia — and institutionalized at the University of Zurich psychiatric hospital "Burghölzli"; overwhelmed Marić and resulted in the forced sale of two of the houses. In 1939 Marić agreed to transfer ownership of the Huttenstrasse house to Einstein in order to prevent its loss as well, with Marić retaining power of attorney. Einstein also made regular cash transfers to Marić for Eduard's and her own livelihood.[28]

Mileva Marić died at the age of 72 on August 4, 1948 in Zurich.

[edit] Role in physics

[edit] Annus Mirabilis papers

The question whether (and if so, to what extent) Marić contributed anything at all to Einstein's Annus Mirabilis Papers is controversial. However, the overwhelming consensus, among professional historians of science, is that she did not.[29]

The case which has been presented for Marić as a co-author of some of Einstein's early work, putatively culminating in the 1905 papers, mostly depends on the following evidence:

(i) Letters in which Einstein referred to "our" theory and "our" work. However, (a) these letters were written in their student days, at least four years before the 1905 papers, (b) some of the instances in which Einstein used "our" in relation to scientific work refer to their diploma dissertations, for which they both chose the same topic (experimental studies of heat conduction),[30] and (c), as John Stachel has shown from a close examination of the letters, most occasions that Einstein used "our" were quite general statements, sometimes in periods he was seeking to assure Marić of his love when they were separated, while he invariably used "I" and "my" when he recounted specific ideas he was working on. For instance, "the letters to Marić show Einstein referring to his studies, his work on the electrodynamics of moving bodies over a dozen times... as compared to one reference to our work on the problem of relative motion."[31] In two cases where there are surviving letters from Marić in direct reply to ones from Einstein in which he had recounted his latest ideas, she gives no response at all. Her letters, in contrast to Einstein's, contain only personal matters, or comments related to her Polytechnic coursework. Stachel writes: "In her case we have no published papers, no letters with a serious scientific content, either to Einstein nor to anyone else; nor any objective evidence of her supposed creative talents. We do not even have hearsay accounts of conversations she had with anyone else that have a specific, scientific content, let alone claiming to report her ideas."[32] Do you seriously think he would have kept them?

[edit] Memorials to Mileva Marić

There are three known sculptoral busts of Mileva Marić, and a few memory reliefs (mostly on houses where she lived). They are located in different towns in Vojvodina, Serbia and in Zurich, Switzerland. The newest of the busts, one in her high-school town, Sremska Mitrovica, was placed in December 2005. Another bust is located on the campus of the University of Novi Sad. A high-school in her birth town Titel is also named after her[33].

[edit] References

  1. ^ Stachel (2002), Einstein from 'B' to 'Z', p. 30; Pais (1994), Einstein Lived Here, pp. 14-15.
  2. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.36
  3. ^ a b Highfield, 1993, p.36.
  4. ^ a b Highfield, 1993, p.37
  5. ^ a b Highfield, 1993, p.38
  6. ^ Trbuhovic-Gjuric, 1988, p.35
  7. ^ Trbuhovic-Gjuric (1988), p.60.
  8. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.38
  9. ^ a b Highfield, 1993, p.43
  10. ^ 'Trbuhovic-Gjuric, 1988, p. 43. (1991, p. 49), and ETH-Archiv der wissenschaftlich-historischen Abteilung
  11. ^ Highfield, 1993, pp. 49, 50.
  12. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.56.
  13. ^ The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein, Vol. 1, doc. 67.
  14. ^ Stachel (1996), pp. 41, 52, n.22.
  15. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.80.
  16. ^ Highfield, 1993, pp.154,156
  17. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.157
  18. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.160
  19. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.166
  20. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.166
  21. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.167
  22. ^ (approximately 44000 Euros — 5600 times 7.9 — according to [1])
  23. ^ Highfield, 1993, p. 172
  24. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.188.
  25. ^ Highfield and Carter page 187: 180,000 Swiss Francs
  26. ^ Einstein Collected Papers, Vol. 8, doc. 562.
  27. ^ Highfield, 1993, p.221
  28. ^ Highfield, 1993, p. 252
  29. ^ Pais (1994), pp. 1-29; Holton (1996), pp. 177-193; Stachel (2002), pp. 26-38; 39-55; Martinez, A. (2005).[2]
  30. ^ Stachel (2002), p. 45.
  31. ^ Stachel (2002), p. 36
  32. ^ Stachel (2002), pp. 33-37; Holton, G. (1996), pp. 181-193.
  33. ^ http://www.psok.org.yu/sr/obrazovanje/srednje.html
  • Clark, R. W. Einstein: The Life and Times. London, 1971.
  • Einstein, A. (1987). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Volume 1. Ed. J. Stachel et al. Princeton University Press.
  • Einstein, A. (1987). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Volume 1. (English translation). Trans. by A. Beck, Consultant P. Havas. Princeton University Press.
  • Einstein, A. (1998). The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein. Volume 8. Ed. R. Schulmann et al. Princeton University Press.
  • Gearhart, C. A. (1992). "The Education of Albert Einstein", SJU Faculty Colloquium, 15 January 1992."
  • Krstić, D. (1991). Appendix A: "Mileva Einstein-Maric." In Elizabeth Roboz Einstein: Hans Albert Einstein. Reminiscences of His Life and Our Life Together, Iowa Cita (Iowa Institute of Hydraulic Research) 1991, pp. 85-99.
  • Krstić, D. (2004). Mileva & Albert Einstein: Their Love and Scientific Collaboration. DIDAKTA d.o.o. Radovljica. ISBN 961-6530-08-9
  • Maurer, Margarete. "Weil nicht sein kann, was nicht sein darf...'DIE ELTERN' ODER 'DER VATER' DER RELATIVITÄTSTHEORIE? Zum Streit über den Anteil von Mileva Maric an der Entstehung der Relativitätstheorie". Published in: PCnews, Nr. 48, Jg. 11, Heft 3, Wien, Juni 1996, S. 20-27. Electronic Version of RLI-Homepage (im RLI-Web): August 2005
  • Pais, A. (1994). Einstein Lived Here.. Oxford University Press.
  • Popovic, M. (ed.) (2003). In Albert's Shadow: The Life and Letters of Mileva Maric, Einstein's First Wife. Johns Hopkins University Press.
  • Shankland, R. S. "Conversations with Albert Einstein", in: American Journal of Physics, Vol. 31, 1963, S. 47-57.
  • Stachel, J. (2002). Einstein from 'B' to 'Z'. Boston: Bïrkhauser, pp. 26–38; 39-55.
  • Stachel, J (ed.) (2005). Einstein's Miraculous Year: Five Papers That Changed the Face of Physics. Princeton. Appendix to Introduction, Centenary Edition, pp. liv-lxxii.
  • Troemel-Ploetz, S. (1990). "Mileva Einstein-Marić: The Woman Who Did Einstein's Mathematics." Women's Studies International Forum, Vol. 13, No. 5, pp. 415-432.
  • Trbuhovic-Gjuric, D. (1983). Im Schatten Albert Einsteins. Das tragische Leben der Mileva Einstein-Maric, Bern: Paul Haupt. ISBN 3258047006.
  • Trbuhovic-Gjuric, D. (1988). Im Schatten Albert Einsteins. Das tragische Leben der Mileva Einstein-Maric, Bern: Paul Haupt. (1988). Editorially augmented edition. ISBN 3258039739.
  • Trbuhovic-Gjuric, D. (1991). Mileva Einstein: Une Vie, Editions des Femmes. ISBN 2721004077. (Translation into French by Nicole Casanova of Im Schatten Albert Einsteins. Das tragische Leben der Mileva Einstein-Maric, 1988 edition.)

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Review: A critical discussion of the PBS "Einstein's Wife" film and website by A. A. Martinez is here: Handling evidence in history: the case of Einstein's Wife, School Science Review, March 2005, 86(316), pp. 49-56.
Critical comments by the Einstein specialists who were interviewed for the film can be seen in a letter posted on an American Physical Society website, and, in more detail, here.
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