In an interview on Einstein

Einstein in Love?

This is a great piece of writing and of research about Einstein’s relationship with his first wife who served as his sounding-board in the miracle year of 1905 when he discovers special relativity and lays the groundwork for quantum theory. Mileva Maric was a physics student at Zurich Polytechnic, and when she and Einstein met they fell madly in love. Overbye wrote one of the first books to come out after the huge trove of letters between Einstein and Maric became available. He shows their passionate love but also their shared joy in physics. He helps us to assess how much she helped in the development of Einstein’s theories.

How much did she help?

Well, she didn’t come up with any of the concepts, but she was a sounding-board and she checked the maths and the proofs. When the passionate relationship exploded and Einstein wanted a divorce he couldn’t afford the money Maric wanted to raise their two boys. So Einstein says to her that one day he’ll win the Nobel Prize for his 1905 work and if she gives him a divorce he’ll give her the prize money when he wins. She takes a week to calculate the odds and consult other scientists, but she is a good scientist herself and she takes the bet. He didn’t win until 1921 but he did give her the money and she bought three apartment buildings in Zurich.