[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Obscure Einstein lover emerges as Hebrew U. unseals correspondence

  • From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
  • To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
  • Date: Mon, 10 Jul 2006 23:14:32 +0200

** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List **
** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi: 
** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ **
** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral 
scholarship, kunjungi 
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com 
**http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/736758.html

     
        
           
           
           
           
     
      Hebrew University co-founder Albert Einstein bequeathed it his literary 
estate and personal papers. (Archives)
     
     

                  Last update - 16:20 10/07/2006    
           
           
            Obscure Einstein lover emerges as Hebrew U. unseals correspondence 
           
            By The Associated Press
           
           
            An obscure lover of Albert Einstein's has emerged in letters 
unsealed by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on Monday, shedding new light on 
the personal life of the 20th century's greatest intellect.

            Ethel Michanowski, a Berlin socialite, was involved with Einstein 
in the late 1920s and early 30s - going so far as to chase him to England, said 
Barbara Wolff, an archivist at the university's Einstein Archives. She was a 
friend of 
            Einstein's stepdaughters, and was about 30 - 15 years younger than 
Einstein - at the time of their affair, Wolff said.


           
           
                 Advertisement 
                 
            The more than 3,500 pages of correspondence were written between 
1912 and 1955, the year Einstein died. Among the revelations: Einstein lost 
much of his Nobel Prize money in the Great Depression, was a more devoted 
father than previously thought and made no bones about discussing his romantic 
liaisons with his second wife.

            Einstein is known to have had 10 lovers, in addition to the two 
women he married after affairs with them, Wolff said. Michanowski and the 
others - including a Margarete, an Estella, two Tonis and a Betty - sailed, 
read books, attended concerts and more with him, archivists told a news 
conference.

            Most striking about the more than 1,300 letters released on Monday 
was the way Einstein openly discussed his extramarital affairs with his second 
wife and cousin, Elsa, and his stepdaughter and confidante, Margot, they said.

            Michanowski is mentioned in three of the newly unsealed letters.

            One letter to Margot in 1931 complained that "Mrs. M." - 
Michanowski - "followed me [to England], and her chasing me is getting out of 
control."

            Einstein was one of the founders of the Hebrew University and he 
bequeathed it his literary estate and personal papers. The university also has 
licensing rights to the scientist's image, voice and quotes. Professor Hanoch 
Gutfreund, a former Hebrew University president and physicist, said those 
rights have been worth an estimated $1 million a year to the school over the 
past 15 years.

            The letters - most of them to Elsa, and from his first wife and 
their two sons - have been in the Einstein Archives for years. But under the 
terms of Margot Einstein's will, they could not be made public until 20 years 
after her death, on July 8, 1986, the university said.

            This apparently will be the last time the public will receive such 
a big body of work on Einstein, Gutfreund said.

            The material released Monday shed no light on Einstein's science or 
how he reached his tremendous achievements, Gutfreund said. But it illuminated 
a private side of Einstein the public hadn't known about until now, he said.

            Einstein's dalliances and abrupt, even cruel treatment of his first 
wife, Mileva, have been well documented in biographies. He has also been 
portrayed as an indifferent father unwilling to take on the obligations of 
parenthood.

            Gutfreund said the latest collection show Einstein to have been 
more involved and warmer to his first family than previously thought. Letter 
from the boys showed "they understood he loved them," he said.

            By filling in some previous gaps in correspondence, the documents 
presented a more comprehensive picture of the man, Wolff said. "It added colors 
to the image we had of Einstein before," she said. "Now we have a 
high-resolution picture."

            The letters also provide the full story of Einstein's prize money 
for the 1921 Nobel prize in physics. Under the terms of his divorce from 
Mileva, the entire sum was have been deposited in a Swiss bank account, and 
Mileva was to draw on the interest for her and the couple's two sons, Hans 
Albert and Eduard.

            It's been known for some time that there was a problem with 
Einstein's discharge of the agreement, but the details weren't clear. The new 
correspondence shows he invested most of it in the U.S., where much of it was 
lost in the Great Depression. This caused great friction with Mileva, who felt 
betrayed because he didn't deposit the entire sum as agreed, and repeatedly had 
to ask him for money, Wolff said.

            Ultimately, however, he paid her more money than he received with 
the prize, she added.

            The man who became best known for his Emc2 equation apparently did 
not want to be bound up with it eternally. In a 1921 letter to Elsa, Einstein 
confided, "Soon I'll be fed up with the relativity. Even such a thing fades 
away when one is too involved with it."
           
     


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]



***************************************************************************
Berdikusi dg Santun & Elegan, dg Semangat Persahabatan. Menuju Indonesia yg 
Lebih Baik, in Commonality & Shared Destiny. 
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia
***************************************************************************
__________________________________________________________________________
Mohon Perhatian:

1. Harap tdk. memposting/reply yg menyinggung SARA (kecuali sbg otokritik)
2. Pesan yg akan direply harap dihapus, kecuali yg akan dikomentari.
3. Reading only, http://dear.to/ppi 
4. Satu email perhari: ppiindia-digest@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
5. No-email/web only: ppiindia-nomail@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
6. kembali menerima email: ppiindia-normal@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    ppiindia-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 


** Forum Nasional Indonesia PPI India Mailing List **
** Untuk bergabung dg Milis Nasional kunjungi: 
** Situs Milis: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ppiindia/ **
** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral 
scholarship, kunjungi 
http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com **

Other related posts:

  • » [nasional_list] [ppiindia] Obscure Einstein lover emerges as Hebrew U. unseals correspondence