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Tue 11 Jul, 2006 12:04 am
Quote:Letters reveal relative truth of Einstein's family life
Documents show 20th century giant was generous, affectionate - and adulterous
Alok Jha, science correspondent
Tuesday July 11, 2006
The Guardian
He was the 20th century's greatest scientist, his name synonymous with genius. But while Albert Einstein's theories are known and lauded the world over, insights into his private life are patchy and largely negative. He has been variously portrayed as a bad father, cruel to his wives and an adulterer.
But that view could now change. Spanning more than 3,500 pages, a newly released set of Einstein's personal correspondence provides new clues into the character of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist. He was open about his love affairs to his wife, lost much of his prize money in bad investments and was a much more devoted father than previously thought.
Full report in The Guardian
Quote:Extracts
?'Soon I'll be fed up with the relativity'
Albert Einstein wrote to his wife Elsa almost every day and often to his stepdaughter Margot
To Elsa, from Prague, January 8 1921 My lectures here
are already behind me. This morning quartet ?- very beautiful, like old times. The first violin is played by a youth of 80 years! Soon I'll be fed up with the relativity. Even such a thing fades away when one is too involved with it
To Margot, from Oxford. May 8 1931 (Members of Einstein's extended family were used to his involvement with two or three women, but had complained about the new additions to his harem.) This time I'm writing you because you are the most reasonable [member of the family], and the poor mother [Elsa is] already completely meschugge. It is true that M. followed me and her chasing after me is getting out of control. But firstly I could hardly avoid it, and secondly, when I see her, I will tell her that she should vanish immediately
Out of all the dames I am in fact attached only to Mrs L who is absolutely harmless.
To Elsa Mrs M definitely acted according to the best Christian-Jewish ethics: 1) one should do what one enjoys and what won't harm anyone else; and 2) one should refrain from doing things one does not take delight in and which annoy another person. Because of 1) she came with me, and because of 2) she didn't tell you a word.
To Elsa from Kiel. June 11 1933 (Elsa managed the financial affairs. From the moment Einstein became famous, she recognised his handwritten manuscripts would be a source of income. This letter was written when Einstein was working on the improvement of the gyroscope compass for the Anschuetz Company. Hermann Anschuetz had provided him with an apartment where he was shielded from the public.) I don't want to have the Warburgs bothered with my manuscript, and much less Haldane. I don't mind having it sold, but without molesting any prominent people. Thank goodness one cannot sell my skin during my lifetime
Here there is blessed calm. No one is allowed to
claim any rights on me. Anschuetz admires me for my abstaining from smoking, and I admire myself, too. In front of my window [are] trees and water, chirping birds. Nothing unexpected occurs, everything quiet and comfortable as if arranged for contemplative musing.
Source: today's The Guardian, page 7
Einstein
Most people who had any money invested lost it all in the NY Stock Exchange during the 1927 stock market crash. I'm not surprised he lost quite a bit of money. I did read last night, where he more than paid back his estranged ex-wife the money he owed her.
The fact that he had extra-marital affairs is of no concern to me. Apparently women threw themselves at him mercilessly. He did respond to the publicity and public adulation, making him very human.
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