LAWS OF ATTRACTION

The women of Albert Einstein

I N 2006, 20 years after the death of his stepdaughter Margaret, a large volume of Albert Einstein’s private letters, once owned by her, was released to the public. The letters date from 1912 up to Einstein’s death in 1955, and include personal correspondence to his two wives.

They reveal a philandering eye as Einstein writes candidly of his extramarital affairs. In one letter to Elsa, Einstein admits that women were chasing him, showering him with unwanted attention.

MARIE WINTELER In 1895, aged 16, Einstein fell in love with the daughter of the professor he was boarding with while attending school in the Swiss town of Aarau. The relationship lasted for about a year, until he moved to Zurich and Marie moved to Olsberg.

MILEVA MARIC Einstein’s first wife was a Serbian physicist who studied with him at the Zurich Polytechnic. She married Einstein in 1903 and had three children with him, but soon after moving to Berlin with him their relationship broke down. They divorced in 1919. Albert gave her the winnings from his Nobel Prize as agreed in their divorce terms.

ELSA EINSTEIN Elsa was a first cousin to Albert. They often played together as children when Elsa’s family went to visit Albert’s family in Munich. In 1908 Elsa divorced her first husband with whom she had two daughters. In 1912 she and Albert renewed their friendship, and they married in 1919. They remained married until her death in 1936.

BETTY NEUMANN In 1923, while married to Elsa, Einstein had an affair with Betty, a niece of a friend and his secretary. He tried desperately to integrate her into his family life.

ETHEL MICHANOWSKI Was a Berlin socialite and friend of Einstein’s stepdaughter Margot. She was involved with Einstein in the late 1920s and early 1930s. Einstein even wrote to Elsa of his relationship with Ethel. Other women with whom Einstein flirted were ESTELLA KATZENELLENBOGEN, wealthy owner of a flower business, and TONI MENDEL, a wealthy widow.