Mileva Marić

Titel (Vojvodina)

Her father championed his daughter's talent against all the conventions of the time.

💡 Did you know? Marić came from a wealthy Serbian family in what was then Austro-Hungarian Vojvodina.

attend physics lessons

Her father obtained a special permit for it.

💡 Did you know? As one of the very first female pupils, Marić gained special permission to join the boys' physics classes in Zagreb.

Zurich Polytechnic

Switzerland was one of the few countries in Europe where women could formally enrol at university.

💡 Did you know? At the Zurich Polytechnic Marić studied physics: at the same time and in the same class as Albert Einstein.

the only woman

Marić was the only woman in her year and only the fifth woman ever in that department of the Polytechnic.

💡 Did you know? She was only the fifth woman ever to study in that section.

Albert Einstein

The two met as students: she was the only woman in his year.

💡 Did you know? Marić and Einstein married in 1903; their letters show that in the early years they discussed physics intensely.

Lieserl

She was born before the marriage at Mileva's parents' home in Serbia and disappears from all letters and records after 1903.

💡 Did you know? The fate of their daughter Lieserl, born out of wedlock, is unknown to this day: she vanishes from all records.

Hans Albert and Eduard

Hans Albert became a professor of hydraulic engineering at Berkeley; Eduard developed schizophrenia as a young man.

💡 Did you know? Her son Eduard developed a severe mental illness; Mileva cared for him for years at great personal cost.

Einstein's Nobel Prize money

In 1922 Einstein did win the prize; Mileva used the money to buy houses in Zurich.

💡 Did you know? The clause was agreed years before Einstein actually won the prize.

her share in Einstein's early work

In the student-day love letters Einstein writes of "our work on relative motion": how much Mileva contributed cannot be proven.

💡 Did you know? Whether and how far Marić contributed to Einstein's early work is still debated among historians.

Zurich

Only the publication of the early love letters in the 1980s brought her back into public view.

💡 Did you know? After the divorce Marić received Einstein's Nobel money as part of the settlement: she lived quietly in Zurich until her death in 1948.

Mileva Marić

Mileva Marić (1875 to 1948) was a Serbian physicist and mathematician, the only woman in her year at the Zurich Polytechnic and Albert Einstein's first wife.

💡 Did you know? Marić was one of very few women allowed to study physics around 1900: her exact share in Einstein's work remains a mystery.