Episode Overview

In this episode of Math, Science, History, host Gabrielle dives deep into the extraordinary—yet often overlooked—life and legacy of Mileva Marić, Albert Einstein’s first wife and intellectual companion. Far more than a footnote in Einstein’s story, Mileva was a brilliant physicist and mathematician in her own right. Together, the couple studied, collaborated, and may have laid the foundation for some of the most revolutionary scientific breakthroughs of the 20th century.

Gabrielle uncovers newly re-examined letters, analyzes quotes from Einstein’s professors and contemporaries, and presents biographical findings that shed light on Marić’s intellectual contributions to Einstein’s early work—especially during the years leading up to his famous 1905 Annus Mirabilis.

3 Things You'll Learn in This Episode:

How Mileva Marić helped shape Einstein’s early scientific thinking—and what letters and biographies reveal about their collaboration.

What Einstein’s professors and colleagues really thought about his student days—and why Minkowski called him a “lazybones.”

Why historians now believe Mileva Marić’s role in Einstein’s 1905 papers may have been more significant than previously acknowledged.

Resources Mentioned:

The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein – Vol. 1: The Early Years, 1879–1902

Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić: The Love Letters (Princeton University Press)

Senta Troemel-Ploetz, “Mileva Einstein-Marić: The Woman Who Did Einstein’s Mathematics”

Desanka Trbuhović-Gjurić, Im Schatten Albert Einsteins (German)

Einstein’s letters at Christie's Auction House

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