The real-life story behind Marie Benedict’s The Other Einstein—a fascinating profile of mathematician Mileva Einstein-Marić and her contributions to her husband’s scientific discoveries. Albert Einstein’s first wife, Mileva Einstein-Marić, was forgotten for decades. When a trove of correspondence between them beginning in their student days was discovered in 1986, her story began to be told. Some of the tellers of the “Mileva Story” made startling claims: that she was a brilliant mathematician who surpassed her husband, and that she made uncredited contributions to his most celebrated papers in 1905, including his paper on special relativity. This book, based on extensive historical research, uncovers the real “Mileva Story.” Mileva was one of the few women of her era to pursue higher education in science; she and Einstein were students together at the Zurich Polytechnic. Mileva’s ambitions for a science career, however, suffered a series of setbacks—failed diploma examinations, a disagreement with her doctoral dissertation adviser, an out-of-wedlock pregnancy by Einstein. She and Einstein married in 1903 and had two sons, but the marriage failed. So was Mileva her husband’s uncredited coauthor, unpaid assistant, or his essential helpmeet? It’s tempting to believe that she was her husband’s secret collaborator, but the authors of Einstein's Wife look at the actual evidence, and a chapter by Ruth Lewin Sime offers important historical context. The story they tell is that of a brave and determined young woman who struggled against a variety of obstacles at a time when science was not very welcoming to women. Given the barriers women in science still face, [Mileva’s] story remains relevant.” —Washington Post

Fifty-four love letters portray the caring relationship between Albert Einstein and his first wife by showing how Maric acted as the genius's intellectual confidant during his isolated years at Princeton.

Through previously unpublished letters written to her best friend over 30 years, this collection offers an intimate portrait of Einstein's first wife and a troubled marriage that ended in divorce and depression.

IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND EINSTEIN AS BOTH A MAN AND A GENIUS WITHOUT A DETAILED STUDY OF HIS WIFE MILEVA WHO ENABLED THE MOST CREATIVE AND DEFINING PERIOD OF EINSTEIN'S LIFE. This is the first in-depth study of Mileva Maric Einstein and her complex life-long relationship with her husband Albert Einstein. Mileva Maric had a promising future as the only woman in 1896 to enter the elite Polytechnic in Zurich. She was a person of extraordinary intelligence and talent. However, when Maric met Albert Einstein that year, her fate became bound to his life and ambition. Raised in a patriarchal Serbian family, she was willing to sacrifice her own academic career and even her visibility to the dream of achieving something even greater, together. Einstein wrote about her as an "equal" referring to "our theory," "our paper," "our work on relative motion." He also relied heavily on Mileva for emotional support at a critical time in his life. "Without you I lack self-confidence, pleasure in work . . . without you my life is no life." Einstein married Mileva in defiance of very strong opposition from his parents. She wasn't beautiful, she was older, she walked with a limp and she wasn't Jewish. Yet, Einstein was magnetically drawn to her independence, strength and formidable intellect during the most creative period of his entire life. As Einstein's reputation and adulation surged so did his womanizing. Einstein's conduct in ending their marriage was so brutal that it dismayed even their closest friends and came perilously close to destroying Mileva. Although Einstein resisted, the divorce decree awarded future Nobel Prize money to Mileva as her property. It represented a symbolic measure of recognition for her contributions to Einstein's scientific achievements. Despite their bitter divorce, Einstein sought the comfort of her company. While sometimes touchingly considerate, Einstein was vindictive and brutal when challenged or hurt. A true understanding of Einstein as both a man and a genius, is impossible without a detailed study of the woman who loved Einstein so deeply with such an emotional and intellectual bond that it bore a very rare fruit. It changed our view of the universe. "This biography is assuredly the first authoritative study of Einstein's first wife, Mileva Maric-Einstein. The author, Professor Milentijevic, has succeeded in bringing alive in magisterial and dramatic fashion the tragic course of Mileva's life. Professor Milentijevic's scrupulous use of sources, in particular, the recently opened family letters at the Hebrew University, give a unique and powerful dimension to the work, which is presented with genuine insight but without pathos." Professor Dr. Robert Schulmann Former Director of the Einstein Papers Project and Editor of "The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein" "Mileva Maric Einstein's story is an extremely important contribution not just to understand the importance of her personal life with Albert Einstein, but also to illuminate the larger historical context of the diminished lives of even the most brilliant of women. Like Rosalind Franklin whose research on DNA was largely credited to Francis Crick and James Watson, and like Ada Lovelace whose algorithm became the basis for computer programming for which Charles Babbage took credit, Mileva Maric Einstein's crucial contributions to her husband's work have long been ignored. At last, Radmila Milentijevic's meticulously documented biography shines the light on facts that might otherwise have been obliterated. It is both a redemption and a call to action to value women's abilities in all fields of endeavor." Gloria Feldt Co-Founder and President "Take The Lead" Women's Leadership Parity Movement New York Times best-selling author of "No Excuses: 9 Ways Women Can Change How We Think About Power"

From beloved New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Marie Benedict comes the story of a not-so-famous scientist who not only loved Albert Einstein, but also shaped the theories that brought him lasting renown. In the tradition of Beatriz Williams and Paula McClain, Marie Benedict's The Other Einstein offers us a window into a brilliant, fascinating woman whose light was lost in Einstein's enormous shadow. This novel resurrects Einstein's wife, a brilliant physicist in her own right, whose contribution to the special theory of relativity is hotly debated. Was she simply Einstein's sounding board, an assistant performing complex mathematical equations? Or did she contribute something more? Mitza Maric has always been a little different from other girls. Most twenty-year-olds are wives by now, not studying physics at an elite Zurich university with only male students trying to outdo her clever calculations. But Mitza is smart enough to know that, for her, math is an easier path than marriage. Then fellow student Albert Einstein takes an interest in her, and the world turns sideways. Theirs becomes a partnership of the mind and of the heart, but there might not be room for more than one genius in a marriage. Marie Benedict illuminates one pioneering woman in STEM, returning her to the forefront of history's most famous scientists. "The Other Einstein takes you into Mileva's heart, mind, and study as she tries to forge a place for herself in a scientific world dominated by men."—Bustle Recommended by PopSugar, Bustle, Booklist, Library Journal and more! Other Bestselling Historical Fiction from Marie Benedict: The Mystery of Mrs. Christie The Only Woman in the Room Lady Clementine Carnegie's Maid

"What allowed a small group of remarkable twentieth-century women to pursue, against all odds, exceptionally rich lives of both work and marriage? Inspired by her generation's experiences juggling career and home life, journalist Andrea Gabor set out to define the unique stuff of which great women are made and chart the often tangled territory in which love and ambition intersect. In intimate portraits we meet: Mileva Maric Einstein, the scientist whose marriage to Einstein began with a shared passion for physics and ended in tragedy; Lee Krasner, a gifted artist who helped cement the reputation of her husband, Jackson Pollock, before making her own mark; Maria Goeppert Mayer, who raised two children while doing landmark scientific research, but couldn't get a paying job until shortly before winning the Nobel Prize; Renowned architect and urban planner Denise Scott Brown, who has struggled for years to emerge from the shadow of her famous husband, the architect Robert Venturi; Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, who describes, in a series of unprecedentedly personal interviews, her commitment to family life as she rose in politics and the judiciary."--Back cover.