Elsa Einstein is a cousin, an invaluable assistant and faithful companion of her famous and great husband, the physicist Albert Einstein. From 1910 until the end of her days, she supported and inspired the scientist to new achievements.
Biography
Elsa Einstein was born on January 18, 1876 in the small German city of Hechingen. She came from a very wealthy family. Elsa's father, Rudolf Einstein, owned a fabric factory. Nothing is known about her mother's activities, Fanny Einstein (Koch).
In addition to the girl, the family had two more children. Ermina, Elsa's older sister, was born in 1874. And in 1878, the youngest child in the family, Paula, was born.
Hechingen: view of the old town Photo: Muesse / Wikimedia Commons
The Einsteins visited Munich regularly, where Elsa could play with her cousin Albert. They often spent time together until he and his family moved to Milan. For a while, the cousins parted ways.
Personal life and career
In 1896, Elsa married a young man from Berlin for the first time. Her husband, Rudolf Max Leventhal, was a textile dealer. In this marriage, the couple had three children. The older children, daughters Eales and Margot, survived, and the youngest son died in 1903 as an infant.
Elsa lived in Hechingen with her husband and children. However, in 1902, Rudolph returned to Berlin, taking a job there. Elsa stayed with her children in Hechingen. Perhaps the separation has affected family relationships. After all, on May 11, 1908, the couple divorced. Elsa and her daughters moved to Berlin, settling next to her parents.
A few years after breaking up with her husband, Elsa Einstein became an invaluable assistant to her genius cousin Albert Einstein. They had known each other since childhood and got along remarkably well. The couple's especially close relationship began around 1912. Despite the fact that Albert Einstein was married to Mileva Maric at that time, he was in a romantic correspondence with Elsa. And in 1914 he moved to Berlin, where his cousin lived.
Elsa Einstein with her husband
Photo: Underwood and Underwood / Wikimedia Commons
In 1917, Albert Einstein fell seriously ill. Nursing the scientist, Elsa Einstein was constantly with him. Many who personally knew this couple were delighted with the degree of this woman's devotion to her man. And two years later, on June 2, 1919, Albert and Elsa got married. In fact, Einstein became a father to Elsa's two daughters. However, later it became known that he had not at all paternal feelings for one of them.
Ilsa, the eldest daughter of Elsa Einstein and Max Leventhal, provided secretarial services to her famous relative. It was then that he was imbued with tender feelings for a young girl. In a collection of works by Albert Einstein sent to Princeton University after his death, a letter appeared describing Ilse's proposal. The girl, on the other hand, agreed only to family relations, treating the scientist as a father. Soon Albert and Elsa got married.
When recognition came to Albert Einstein, and with it popularity, he began to spend a lot of time traveling. The scientist was invited to give numerous lectures and participate in scientific discussions. Elsa always accompanied her husband. In 1921, they traveled together to the United States, where he helped raise funds for his small homeland in Palestine. In 1922, Albert Einstein received the Nobel Prize for the theory of the photoelectric effect and "… other work in the field of theoretical physics." And in this achievement of the scientist, the contribution of his wife was traced.
Elsa played a supporting role in his career, helping to manage the scientist's day-to-day business affairs. And even when Helen Dukas was hired as a secretary in 1928, Elsa Einstein continued to carefully keep her husband's peace. She, like a tireless protector, protected him from unwanted visitors and visitors.
Moving to America
In the 1930s, an active rise of the Nazi party began in Germany. The Einsteins, who opposed the war and promoted respect for human rights, found it increasingly difficult. In 1933, Elsa and her husband went on a journey. When they returned home, they learned about the search of their summer home, which had been carried out by order of the authorities. Soon, the property of the Einsteins was seized. Realizing that they could no longer live and work in Germany, the couple eventually asked for asylum in the United States.
House of Albert Einstein. Princeton, August 1935 Photo: Dmadeo / Wikimedia Commons
In October 1933, Elsa and Albert Einstein arrived in America. Her husband became a professor of theoretical physics at the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study in New Jersey. And Elsa, barely settling in her new house and not really having time to establish her life, learned about her daughter's fatal illness. Ilza was diagnosed with cancer. Wanting to be with her daughter in her final days, she went to Paris.
Some time later, Margot, Elsa's youngest daughter, decided to move to the United States. She wanted to be closer to her mother. Moreover, the death of Ilza affected the health of Elsa Einstein. She started having heart and liver problems. On December 20, 1936, Elsa died at the Einstein home in Princeton.
