Page 28 - Southern Exposure - April '20

Page 28, Southern Exposure

Book review

The Other Einstein

By Nils A. Shapiro
When one hears the also attended classes at other schools. an equal professional
name Albert Einstein, we The story of this “meeting of minds” that became a working partnership
think immediately of a man “marriage of minds” – and eventual betrayal of both mind as it was husband and
universally regarded as and heart – is related as a deeply personal first-person wife.
one of the most brilliant narrative by Mileva. Though presented as a novel, a work Albert and Mileva
scientific minds in all of fiction, for reasons that Marie Benedict explains in were married on Jan.
of history, and picture her author’s note, there are unanswered questions and 6, 1903. Despite his
the familiar image of a speculations in the actual historical record of Albert and having graduated with
shaggy white-haired and Mileva Einstein’s life together that make the basic theme his certificate from the
mustached, twinkling-eyed of this book as having been entirely possible. Polytechnic Institute,
professorial type with a Indeed, I myself was so moved – even shaken – by he had difficulty
gentle, impish grin – often the events posed by the author, who based her book getting a job. Mileva
smoking a pipe. on extensive research, that as soon as I turned the last became pregnant, and
By the time you finish this book, however, your opinion page I went to my computer and devoted several hours according to this book
of Einstein the man is likely to be very different. to investigating many detailed facts about Albert and it was she who came
The “other Einstein” referred to in the title is Mileva Mileva, their life together (including his various jobs and up with the concept for
“Mitza” Maric, an extraordinary woman who, at the age of the dates and places), their families, children, etc. I found the theory of relativity
17 in the year 1896 – a time when girls in eastern Europe that everything matched the information in this book. that later became the
were virtually banned from seeking higher education – But what forms the heart of The Other Einstein are the first, and most famous, of Albert Einstein’s achievements,
was so brilliant in physics and math that she was accepted two unresolved mysteries in Albert Einstein’s life and and which eventually led to his receiving the Nobel Prize.
at an elite university in Zurich, Switzerland. Even her extraordinary career. After discussing her idea with Albert, the two worked
professor resented her presence, and of the five boys in her It is an accepted fact that Mileva’s natural genius on the document together. A critical aspect of proving
class of six students only one seemed not to be annoyed; as a mathematician was at the very least as great as any scientific theory is expressing it as a long string of
his name was Albert Einstein. Albert’s, whose own brilliance was as a theoretical mathematical equations, for which Mileva was known
Intrigued by her remarkable intellect, young Albert physicist. Together, they were an incomparable pair, to be the more proficient. The paper was presented
was attracted to the shy Mileva, who was looked down one complementing the other and both necessary for the to the scientific community under the title, “On the
upon by the professor and other students, coming as she expression of a scientific statement. It is important to Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies.” On Sept. 26, 1905,
did from a small Slavic town in Serbia, and walked with a understand that, to Mileva, her career was as important as
slight limp, having been born with one leg slightly shorter his, and both agreed that their relationship would be as much Book Review on page 29
than the other. At one point, after two of their classmates
had failed to help Albert find a mathematics error in one
of his scientific calculations, he turned to Mileva, who
spotted it immediately.
He soon began turning up, uninvited with his violin,
to join her at the private music recitals at the boarding
house where she lived with several girlfriends while they

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