The two forgotten women

Ever since Mileva Marik took pumped-up young Albert’s heart, he was so restless.

“ She is perfect for me”, Albert thought. They loved physics, music and each other; their alliance could bring forth groundbreaking science.

At school, Mileva was always quiet, never talked much( the nerd of the school) and was brilliant! Whereas Albert was careless, never wanted to learn history because of the huge chunks of dates which he never wanted to learn, “it’s unimportant” he says “ Why should we know what someone did? We better focus on what we are doing and what we can do”, thought 12-year-old Albert and dropped out of school. “Mathematics and Physics, the right passion” he says, so does Mileva.

They never knew each other, until they were in the Zurich Polytechnique Institute, with an insane thirst for Physics and Mathematics. Albert thought Mileva to be his equal, she was the only female physics student in the entire university class, but his senior. From then, their date nights were usually study together sessions, they loved to discuss everything in and out of the world and they became inseparable.

Albert hated attending the lectures, it was Mileva who kept Albert motivated. The part about their classes which both of them equally hated was the summer holidays. They couldn’t spend days without talking to each other so they started writing letters, every single day.

One of Albert’s letter to Mileva, revealed his intimacy and loving nature towards Mileva.

“You are at home being pampered, as a deserving daughter should be...

When I read Helmholtz for the first time I could not — and still cannot — believe I was doing so without you sitting next to me. I enjoy working together very much, and find it soothing and less boring.”

As days went by, and while Albert was looking at Mileva’s photograph his heart filled with desperation to meet her. As she wasn’t replying to his letters, Albert’s heart became heavy, he soon took a paper and started writing another letter.

“I long terribly for a letter from my beloved witch. I can hardly believe that we will be separated so much longer — only now do I see how madly in love with you I am!.”

Albert talked to his mother Pauline about Mileva. But Pauline seemed uninterested, and said: “ She is older than you, by the time you are a clear adult, she will be an old hag. She isn’t a Jew, not even a German and she has limp, can’t you see?!.”

To which Albert replied, “ She is a clever girl, Mother”.

“ If she gets your child, you’ll be in a pretty big mess”. Pauline said roughly.

Albert ignored all of it, he knew what he wanted, and never took a step back.

Albert grew sad day by day and couldn’t stop himself from writing another letter:

“My parents are very worried about my love for you. Mama often cries bitterly and I don’t have a single moment of peace here.

My parents weep for me almost as if I had died…

I see those loving eyes which shine for me alone, and kiss your sweet mouth which trembles blissfully for me alone”

Albert asked Mileva to meet him at the beautiful Lake Camo, on a summer day. It was beautiful indeed, they were at the peaks of youth hormones. And this brought their first baby after ten months, very secretly, with Mileva never getting out of her home, never letting anyone else know about it. Baby Lieserl was a gift which they never wished for.

Albert was unemployed, he was struggling hard to make his own ends meet, he couldn’t marry Mileva at this stage. After a lot of suffering, they decided to send Lieserl far away, give her to someone who can take care of her, without the world knowing about her. Lieserl vanished from their life.

After a long time, Albert got his first job and he hoped their parents would agree for the marriage now, but even then it wasn’t that easy. However, one day Albert’s father who was very weak by then, asked Albert to sit near him, giving Albert the permission to marry Mileva and slowly left the world.

The newly married couple spent their time sitting together at the table in the musky light of a kerosene lantern, working together on physics problems. All of Albert’s articles were properly analysed and observed by Mileva. The E=mc^2, photoelectric effect, Brownian movement and relativity theory were then published.

The Theory of Relativity had been in their life for seven years and the photoelectric effect, for five years. Those were all collaborative works, when the whole world pictured a single intelligent man behind all the wonders, Mileva was hidden. She was the first person to recognize his talent. Without her, he would never have succeeded. She forgot her dreams. Why did Mileva remain silent? Being reserved and self-effaced, she did not seek honours or public attention, only because she loved Albert.

However, she was happy for the Nobel prize award Albert received even though, they should have actually shared the prize. She was immensely proud of her husband. But she always thought ‘fame should not have a harmful effect on his humanity’.

Maybe if they have had never met, the world would have had another genius who still echoes through everyone’s minds, smiling happily in our Physics textbooks.

They were happily married and had two sons, everything seemed perfect until Albert fell for his cousin Elsa. This ended their love story, collapsed their marriage and abandoned the promise to love each other for eternity.

Albert’s action drove away not one, but two women from his life. Mileva and Lieserl… The two forgotten women.

Where is Lieserl? Is she dead? Might she even still be alive somewhere aged, a one hundred and twenty years?

Did she know she was Albert’s daughter?. What would have she felt, being abandoned by someone who is respected by everyone?

She could have lived as the descendent of the greatest wizard of Physics, Mathematics and the one mastermind who unraveled a lot of mysteries of science.

There is no birth certificate or death certificate issued in her name. Though many people came claiming their Einsteinian bloodline, no one could prove.

And here we have an untraced bloodline of the great Albert Einstein.

Are you one of his descendants?

Or am I?.

Love,

Dona

All the quotations used were taken from, letters Einstein had written.

Want to know more about Einstein’s life?

Sources: 1.Einstein by Time 2. Life of Einstein by Pauline Gagnon 3.Einstein by Riverhead books