Requesting: Detailed information about Einstein, especially about marriage and relationships.

The "truth" of Einstein

Xu Wen seems to want to tell everyone many things about Einstein that have not been known to everyone so far, in a tone of discovering big news. "Mystery", the conclusion is: "In the moral court, Einstein is not only not a good person, nor a good or bad person, but an out-and-out villain."

Like this The conclusion is not impossible if the author bases it on solid facts and correct reasoning procedures. Unfortunately, the author is neither based on solid facts nor correct reasoning procedures, and his conclusion is obviously untenable.

Let’s first talk about how many of the articles are newly discovered “facts”.

1. "Einstein had an illegitimate daughter."

This is a fact, but it is not news, nor is it the fact that Dennis Overby "used out 5 pairs of glasses!" "Just discovered it. German scholars discovered this more than ten years ago, and this is a fact well known to the academic community. Einstein's relationship with Mileva was strongly opposed by Einstein's parents, especially his mother. For this reason, Einstein's relationship with his family was particularly tense for a time. Mileva became pregnant out of wedlock, and Einstein himself was suffering from unemployment and family pressure. Einstein himself was very confused about the future. Mileva also failed her graduation exam. Under such circumstances, Mileva had no choice but to return to her hometown - Novi Sad, which was then part of Hungary - under tremendous pressure. The illegitimate daughter was raised by Mileva's natal family. Although Einstein never met his daughter, the letters he wrote to Mileva now reveal that he cared about her very much. Contraceptive measures at that time were far less convenient than they are now, and sexual intercourse between lovers could not be considered immoral. Mileva was a Catholic and could not support abortion, and abortion was neither easy nor legal at that time. The two of them were unable to save themselves in Switzerland, so sending them back to Mileva's hometown seemed to be the only better option. I wonder where the author’s statement that Einstein was very cruel to his illegitimate daughter came from? There are also two types of illegitimate children: those before marriage and those outside of marriage. I think the two are somewhat different.

2. "Einstein neglected his young son's education and life, causing his young son to suffer from schizophrenia."

This is out-and-out irresponsible and illogical. erroneous reasoning. Einstein's youngest son Edward suffered from schizophrenia, but this was not the result of Einstein's neglect of education and life. The now accepted conclusion in academic circles is that it is inherited from the Mileva family. There is strong evidence that multiple generations of Mileva's family have suffered from schizophrenia.

Contrary to the above statement, Einstein loved his two sons very much. Even after divorcing Mileva, he traveled from Berlin to Zurich many times to visit his sons and play with them. Einstein was very angry that Mileva spoke ill of him in front of his two children, causing their two sons to become estranged from him. Despite this, he did not give up educating his two sons in later years.

3. "After Einstein's divorce, he immediately married Elsa and soon had a daughter, Elsa."

This is not true. Ilse is Elsa's daughter from her first marriage. Ilse was already a girl when Elsa married Einstein. Therefore, the so-called "It is said that Einstein cared a lot for Isa and showed his paternal nature for the first time" is even more ridiculous. Einstein did not like both of Elsa's two stepdaughters. The factors here are more complex. According to some biographical materials, Einstein disliked Isa because she was vain, but Margot, the other stepdaughter, was very fond of Einstein.

In short, the above statement itself is not serious, contradictory and very problematic. German science historian Armin Hermann once wrote an article specifically discussing the issue of "Einstein and Women." Interested readers can read it. (Special article written by Hermann in the German version of "Selected Love Letters from Einstein and Mileva")

Einstein's "pseudo"

The most incredible thing in Xu's articles The point is that she came up with an idea and answered it.

That is: "The most magical mystery is: Was Einstein's achievement because of love, or because of the lack of love?"

The article said: Einstein "plagiarized from her (referring to Mileva)" "Inspired by the theory of relativity"; "Einstein had two major scientific achievements in his life. The first started when he was newly married, and the other happened when he divorced his wife and remarried."

This type of topic is not worth discussing at all because it is not supported by any facts. Many serious historians of science have refuted the above statement. I will only briefly describe the general outline here.

First of all, the claim that Einstein "plagiarized" the inspiration for the theory of relativity from Mileva is completely random speculation by people who do not understand science and has no factual basis. It comes from one of Mileva's Serjavi compatriots. She was a middle school teacher who felt that she wanted to avenge her compatriot Mileva, whom she regarded as the "mother of relativity", but her argument was full of errors. After a period of turmoil, this argument collapsed. Unexpectedly, this argument that cannot withstand scrutiny has been hyped again, and it is not satisfied with being the "mother of relativity".

Mileva herself did not even graduate from university. She did not have much talent in physics. At least from the correspondence discovered so far, Mileva talked about trivial matters, and no evidence was found that Mileva had made even a small contribution to the formulation of the theory of relativity.

"Was Einstein's achievements due to love or the lack of love?" is a question that has no answer and cannot have an answer.

Needless to say, Einstein’s views on women were indeed deeply influenced by the thoughts of the German philosopher Schopenhauer. He never valued love above all else. He had an affair before the divorce, and also engaged in deviant behavior after his second marriage. According to his own words, he had two "disgraceful marriages." Marriage, he believed, was essentially stupid. After clarifying this point, it is meaningless to ask "Is Einstein's achievement because of love or the absence of love?"

Strictly speaking, the emergence of scientific ideas is mainly the result of the independent development within science. Any approach that takes external factors into consideration and even attempts to provide a causal link between the two, even if it is conclusive, is questionable, because the two are completely different things, not to mention there is no evidence here. Overbai's ambition - not only to restore Einstein's emotional world before middle age, but what he most desires to know is: the wonderful role of Einstein's love in his scientific achievements - itself should not be there.

By the way, Einstein liked women who were intelligent, elegant and generous in conversation, but he did not suffer from a hidden disease of misogyny as Xu Wenzhong reported, and he never liked flirting with women. Unwilling to take any responsibility.”

Unfortunately, both of Einstein's marriages were unhappy. These two unfortunate women themselves never conquered Einstein spiritually, and Einstein could not say that he loved them. Their behavior was far from what Einstein liked, so whenever elegant and graceful women took the initiative to approach Einstein, he seemed very excited. This turns out to be human nature. If he is content in his love life, numerous "flirtations" are unlikely. There are several extramarital affairs that can be investigated, but none of them were the result of Einstein's initiative. Even so, most didn't last long. Some are even nipped in the bud. If there had really been a woman of his dreams who could accompany him through his lonely life, Einstein's academic achievements might have been greater, or they might have been nothing. At this point, I would rather believe Xu Wen’s argument.

Although Einstein's marriage was unfortunate, Einstein was by no means an unjust person. This was made clear when he gave all the Nobel Prize money to Mileva. After a period of reflection, Mileva and he later resumed correspondence. Mileva still retained Einstein's surname after her divorce. To a certain extent, he had more understanding and recognition of Einstein. Rationally speaking, they were originally two people. Because Mileva is disabled and German is not her mother tongue, she has a strong inferiority complex. This is in sharp contrast to Einstein's optimism and confidence. At first, Einstein could discuss physics or metaphysics issues with her, but later the difference between their realms became wider and wider. Einstein married Mileva out of a sense of responsibility, but it didn't take long to realize that this was a big mistake.

Therefore, it was not the emergence of the so-called third party Elsa that caused the marriage of Einstein and Mileva to turn on the red light. It is said in the article that "Einstein abandoned his wife and two sons in Zurich and went to Berlin alone to build a love nest with his widowed cousin Elsa. Mileva was in pain, but a woman's pain can never bring back a man's heart." The statement is not consistent with the facts.

Let’s talk about Einstein’s second “disgraceful marriage”—the union with his cousin Elsa. They were never motivated by love in the first place. They are distant relatives. Both parties have known each other for a long time. When Einstein was bedridden because he was too devoted to his work, it was Elsa's careful care that restored him to health. Einstein's mother liked Elsa very much, and Elsa took good care of Einstein's mother and took the "upper-class route." In addition to secretly laughing at Elsa's vulgarity, Berlin's social circle had long discovered that Einstein and Elsa were completely different types of people. Elsa was happy to enjoy the reputation of being Einstein's wife, but it was her "vanity" that made it impossible for Einstein to respect her. Although they have been living together, mentally, they have long been like strangers. Therefore, after she died earlier than Einstein, instead of being sad, Einstein felt a complete sense of relief. In terms of marriage, Einstein should be said to be a "victim". Of course, this cannot be blamed on the two wives who once gave him joy. They themselves were also tortured and had no happiness at all. Einstein was hesitant to get married, and the two women were not unaware of this. Their good intentions did not guarantee that they would bring happiness to their marriage. I feel for both of them deeply about this. It would be lucky if people can learn something from it in the future. It is unwise to insist on using secular moral standards to demand Einstein or his two miserable wives.

Why did Einstein make no major discoveries in his later years? Is it because "his love was no longer reciprocated"? There is obviously no causal relationship between the two. It’s okay not to say anything about this.

Xu Wen’s intention may be to convey the new results of Einstein research to the Chinese people, but because he did not pay close attention to it, he regarded some foreign “wild language” as serious results. Giving people a wrong impression is something we must learn from.

The passage Xu Wen quoted from Einstein at the end is very appropriate.

"Suffering or sweetness, they all come from the outside world... I lived in loneliness. I was in great pain when I was young, but in my mature years I was happy with it."

Einstein is A person with a fair temperament, his "fakeness" also comes from the truth. He was a "real" great man. (Fang Zaiqing)