Mileva Marić
Mileva Marić entered the world on the 19th of December 1875 in Titel, a town within Austria-Hungary. Her family held wealth and status among the local population. She was the eldest of three children born to Miloš Marić and Marija Ružić-Marić. Her early education began at a high school for girls in Novi Sad during 1886. The following year she transferred to the Mitrovica Gymnasium in Sremska Mitrovica. By 1890 she attended the Royal Serbian Grammar School in Šabac. A special permission from her father allowed her enrollment as a private student at an all-male Royal Classical High School in Zagreb in 1891. Vladimir Varićak served as her mathematics teacher there. She passed the entrance exam and entered the tenth grade in 1892. Special permission granted her access to physics lectures in February 1894. She completed final exams successfully by September 1894. Her grades in mathematics and physics both received the rating very good. This score sat just one level below the highest possible excellent mark. Serious illness struck her that same year. She decided to move to Switzerland where she started at the Girls High School in Zurich on the 14th of November. In 1896 she passed her Matura-Exam with strong results. She briefly studied medicine at the University of Zurich for one semester before switching paths.
Marić enrolled at the Zurich Polytechnic in the fall of 1896 after passing a mathematics entrance examination. Her average grade was 4.25 on a scale ranging from 1 to 6. She joined section VIA to teach physics and mathematics in secondary schools. Albert Einstein enrolled in the same diploma course at the same time. Marić stood alone as the only woman among six students in her group. She became the fifth woman overall to enter that specific section. Close friendship developed quickly between her and Einstein during their early months together. October brought a trip to Heidelberg for the winter semester of 1897/98. She attended physics and mathematics lectures as an auditor at Heidelberg University. April 1898 saw her return to the Zurich Polytechnic. Her coursework included differential and integral calculus, descriptive geometry, mechanics, theoretical physics, applied physics, experimental physics, and astronomy. Intermediate diploma examinations occurred in 1899, one year later than her peers. Her grade average reached 5.05 placing her fifth out of six students taking exams that year. Her physics grade matched Einstein's score of 5.5. Final teaching diploma examinations happened in 1900 where she failed with an average of 4.00. A grade of 2.5 in the mathematics component caused this failure.
Marić traveled to Újvidék where Einstein's daughter was born in late January 1902 after becoming pregnant by him on holiday in Italy. The couple referred to the baby as Hanserl before birth and Lieserl afterward. At age one the child suffered from scarlet fever causing permanent damage. Some sources claim she died soon after in 1903 while others suggest adoption in Serbia. Einstein never met his daughter. Marić and Einstein married in Bern, Switzerland in 1903 when he secured a job at the Federal Office for Intellectual Property. Their first son Hans Albert arrived in 1904. They moved several times due to changing teaching positions. The family lived in Bern until 1909 then relocated to Zürich. Eduard was born in 1910. They moved to Prague in 1911 where Einstein taught at Charles University. A year later they returned to Zurich after accepting a professorship at his alma mater. July 1913 brought distress over her husband's relocation to Berlin amid an affair with his cousin Elsa Einstein. August saw plans for a walking holiday with Marie Curie and her daughters. Eduard fell ill delaying their departure but they eventually joined the party. September 1913 included a visit to Marić's parents near Novi Sad. Her sons were baptized Orthodox Christians before leaving for Vienna. She traveled to Berlin to stay with Fritz Haber who helped find accommodation for the impending move in April 1914. Both left Zurich for Berlin in late March taking a swimming holiday in Locarno en route.
Marriage tensions had existed since 1912. Marić never wanted to go to Berlin and became increasingly unhappy there. Mid-July 1914 marked harsh terms from her husband if she remained. Initial acceptance gave way to reconsideration on the 29th of July 1914, the day World War I started. She left Germany taking the boys back to Zürich creating a permanent separation. Einstein committed legally to send annual maintenance of 5600 Reichsmark in quarterly installments. This amount equaled just under half his salary or approximately 44000 Euros today. He largely adhered to this commitment over time. Five years of separation passed before divorce occurred on the 14th of February 1919. Their agreement stipulated Einstein would accept any Nobel Prize while Marić received the money. This happened in 1922 when funds were held in trust for their two boys. She could draw interest but needed permission to touch principal amounts. Walter Isaacson reported later that Marić invested the Nobel Prize money into three apartment buildings in Zurich. One building was a five-story house at Huttenstrasse 62 where she lived. The other two served as investments generating income. By 1930 her son Eduard suffered a breakdown diagnosed as schizophrenia around age twenty. Late 1930s costs for care at Burghölzli psychiatric clinic overwhelmed her finances. She sold two houses to raise funds for his maintenance and care. In 1939 she agreed to transfer ownership of the Huttenstrasse house to Einstein to prevent loss while retaining power of attorney.
In 2005 ETH and Gesellschaft zu Fraumünster honored Marić in Zürich. A memorial plaque appeared on her former residence at Huttenstrasse 62 that same year. A bust was placed in Sremska Mitrovica where she attended high school. Another bust stands on the campus of the University of Novi Sad. A high school in Titel bears her name. Sixty years after her death a memorial plate went up on the house of the former clinic in Zürich where she died. June 2009 saw dedication of a memorial gravestone at Nordheim-Cemetery in Zürich. Narodna knjiga published Mileva Marić Ajnštajn by Dragana Bukumirović in Belgrade in 1995. Vida Ognjenović produced a drama titled Mileva Ajnštajn three years later translated into English in 2002. Ognjenović adapted the play into an opera libretto composed by Aleksandra Vrebalov premiering in 2011 at Serbian National Theatre in Novi Sad. Marie Benedict wrote The Other Einstein novel in 2016 offering fictionalized accounts of their
relationship. Television series Genius depicted her life in its first season released in 2017 with Nikki Hahn, Samantha Colley and Sally Dexter playing roles. DC's Legends of Tomorrow featured a fictionalized depiction in its second season episode aired in 2018. Gabriella Greison applied for a posthumous degree from ETH Zurich in 2019 but was denied after four months of discussion. Margaret Peterson Haddix included her as a major character in Caught published in 2012. Bonnie Garmus mentioned her twice in Lessons in Chemistry released in 2022.
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Common questions
When and where was Mileva Marić born?
Mileva Marić entered the world on the 19th of December 1875 in Titel, a town within Austria-Hungary. Her family held wealth and status among the local population.
What were Mileva Marić's academic achievements at Zurich Polytechnic?
Marić enrolled at the Zurich Polytechnic in the fall of 1896 after passing a mathematics entrance examination with an average grade of 4.25 on a scale ranging from 1 to 6. She became the fifth woman overall to enter section VIA but failed her final teaching diploma examinations in 1900 with an average of 4.00 due to a grade of 2.5 in the mathematics component.
Who is the child that Mileva Marić had with Albert Einstein?
The couple referred to their daughter as Hanserl before birth and Lieserl afterward who suffered from scarlet fever at age one causing permanent damage. Some sources claim she died soon after in 1903 while others suggest adoption in Serbia and Einstein never met his daughter.
When did Mileva Marić divorce Albert Einstein and what was the financial agreement?
Five years of separation passed before divorce occurred on the 14th of February 1919 when their agreement stipulated Einstein would accept any Nobel Prize while Marić received the money. This happened in 1922 when funds were held in trust for their two boys and she could draw interest but needed permission to touch principal amounts.
What memorials honor Mileva Marić today?
In 2005 ETH and Gesellschaft zu Fraumünster honored Marić in Zürich where a memorial plaque appeared on her former residence at Huttenstrasse 62 that same year. A bust was placed in Sremska Mitrovica where she attended high school and another bust stands on the campus of the University of Novi Sad.