Biography of Mileva Maric

Mileva Maric was born in 1875 in Titel, Serbia and died in Zurich, Switzerland in 1948 at the age of 72 years. She grew up as a bright, young lady who was very intelligent and had a curious mind, particularly in the area of mathematics and sciences. Mileva entered an all-male prep school when she was 15 years old. While the only female in the school, she quickly showed her intelligence by achieving the best grades in math and physics.

After graduation, she was accepted at the Zurich Polytechnic, now known as Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, where she met the man who later becomes her husband, Albert. Much to her dismay, she failed her first round of exams in 1900 and prepared to take them again. Before she could complete the second examinations, she discovered she was pregnant but decided to stick with her plan to complete her tests. However, she failed for the second time. She delivered her baby girl, Lieserl in 1902. The records are not clear if the baby died or was put up for adoption but it doesn’t appear that she raised a daughter. Albert and Mileva were finally married in 1903 but divorced in 1914.

During their marriage, she had two more children, Hans Albert and Eduard. Their marriage started to falter in 1912, when Albert began speaking to his cousin, Elsa Löwenthal. They had an extramarital affair. In the summer of 1914, Albert insisted that he and Mileva divorce to allow him to pursue his relationship with his cousin. Their divorce was finalized in 1919. In the divorce proceedings, any money he would earn related to winning the Nobel Peace Prize, she would receive. She used all the money on three houses, the care of her schizophrenic son, Eduard, and her care when she became ill. She died poor a...

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...cientific content, let alone claiming to report her ideas.” The letters from him suggest she was his partner in science, but there was never any actual indication from her.

While there is compelling reasons to believe that she helped Einstein with his collections of work, I do not believe that she assisted him with his scientific theories. There are only three pieces of evidence suggesting for or against her being his assistant. The strongest information came from Abram Joffe’s testimony related to the scientific papers in their most original form that were allegedly changed in the revision phase. There is not strong evidence that those conversations Mileva and her Serbian friend actually took place. Finally, she never suggested herself that she had been Albert’s lab partner and she would be the only one who could clearly prove if she had been his aide.