Bullying theory: What Albert Einstein's wives have suffered

Like many other geniuses, Albert Einstein was, let's say, eccentric. And in relationships with women, it's completely unbearable. The scientist was married twice, and both women turned out to be hostages of their feelings rather than muses. They had to put up with the terrible demands of their spouse, humiliations and infidelities. But, in spite of everything, they were selflessly devoted to their husband.

Einstein met his first wife while studying at the Polytechnic School. Mileva Maric was 21 years old, he was 17. According to contemporaries, this person was completely devoid of charm, limped on one leg, was painfully jealous and prone to depression.

Obviously, Albert liked this type. Although his parents were categorically against marriage with a Serbian emigrant, the young scientist firmly decided to get married. His letters to Mari were charred with passion: "I have lost my mind, I am dying, I am burning with love and desire. The pillow you sleep on is a hundred times happier than my heart!"

But even before he went down the aisle, Einstein began to freak out. When Mileva gave birth to a girl in 1902, the groom insisted on giving her to the care of childless relatives "due to financial difficulties." The fact that Einstein had a daughter, Lieserl, became known only in 1997, when his great-grandchildren auctioned off the physicist's personal letters.

The tone of the letters also changed. In one of them, the girl found a kind of job description:

If you want to get married, you'll have to agree to my terms, here they are:

— firstly, you will take care of my clothes and bed;- secondly, you will bring me food to my office three times a day;- thirdly, you will refuse all personal contacts with me, except for those that are necessary for the observance of decency in society;- fourthly, whenever I ask you about it, you will leave my bedroom and office;- fifthly, without words of protest, you will perform scientific calculations for me;- sixth, you will not expect any manifestations of feelings from me.

However, Mari was so in love with Albert (and he was a very, very attractive person) that she agreed to accept this "manifesto". Shortly after the wedding, the Einstein family had a son, Hans, and six years later - Eduard (he was born with abnormalities and ended his days in a psychiatric hospital). The scientist treated these children with due warmth and attention.But the relationship with his wife was a complete absurdity. The physicist turned out to be very willing to intrigue on the side, and he perceived claims about this as insults. He took the fashion to lock himself in his office, and sometimes the couple did not talk for several days. The last straw was a letter in which Einstein demanded from Mileva that she renounce all intimacy with him. In the summer of 1914, the woman took the children and left Berlin for Zurich.

The marriage, however, lasted another three years. Mileva agreed to a divorce only after her husband promised to give her the money due to the Nobel laureate (they both had no doubt that the prize would not bypass the scientist). To Einstein's credit, he kept his word and in 1921 sent his ex-wife the received 32 thousand dollars.

Three months after the divorce, Albert remarried, to his cousin Elsa, who had recently taken maternal care of him during his illness. Einstein agreed to adopt two girls from Elsa's previous marriage, and in the early years an idyll reigned in the house.

Charlie Chaplin , who visited them , spoke about Elsa in this way:

However, Einstein could not remain faithful to traditional family values for a long time. His loving nature constantly pushed him to new adventures. Elsa had to listen to her husband's complaints that women did not give him a pass. Sometimes he even brought his mistresses to a family dinner.

Surprisingly, Elsa also found the strength to pacify her jealousy. Truly, love is a terrible force.The woman's health was undermined by the death of her eldest daughter. In 1936, she died in her husband's arms. By that time, he himself was no longer a boy at all, and he no longer had the strength (or maybe the desire) to remarry.