Maja Einstein

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Maja Einstein

Maja Einstein ca.1930
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Born Maja Einstein
November 18, 1881(1881-11-18)
Munich, Germany
Died June 25, 1951 (aged 69)
Princeton, New Jersey, USA
Cause of death Atherosclerosis
Residence Flag of Germany Germany (1881-1894) Flag of Italy Italy (1894-1902 1922-1939) Flag of Switzerland Switzerland (1902-1922) Flag of the United States USA (1939-1951)
Nationality Flag of the United States USA
Occupation Doctor
Religious beliefs Jewish
Partner Paul Winteler
Children None
Parents Hermann Einstein and Pauline Koch
Relatives Albert Einstein
Notes
"Yes, but where does it have its small wheels?" Sentence from Albert Einstein when he first saw his sister in 1881

Maja Einstein is the younger sister of great scientist Albert Einstein. Maja was the only friend of Albert during his childhood.

Contents

[edit] Early Life

[1]

Maja and her brother, Albert in ca.1885
Maja and her brother, Albert in ca.1885
Maja and Albert in ca. 1891
Maja and Albert in ca. 1891

On November 18 in 1881 Maja was born in Munich. Her Jewish parents, Hermann Einstein and Pauline Einstein (nee Koch), had moved from Ulm to Munich in June 1880 with their two-year-old son Albert. There Hermann and his brother Jakob had founded the electrical engineering company Einstein & Cie. When little Albert saw his sister for the first time he thought she were a kind of toy and asked: “Yes, but where does it have its small wheels?” Maja and her brother Albert got along very well all their lives.


[edit] Education

After attending elementary school in Munich from 1887 to 1894, she attended the German International School in Milan, where the family had moved to due to financial reasons. To continue high school, Albert had stayed behind with relatives in Munich. From 1899 to 1902 she attended the workshop for teachers in Aarau. After she passed her final exams, she studied Romance languages and literature in Berlin, Bern and Paris. In 1909 she graduated from university in Bern. The title of her dissertation was “Contribution to the tradition of the Chevalier au Cygne and the Enfances Godefroi”. In the following year the “Ms Doctor” married Paul Winteler. Their marriage produced no children.

[edit] Married life

The young couple moved to Luzern in 1911 where Maja’s husband had found a job. In 1922 they moved to Colonnata near Florence in Italy. In the autumn of 1930 Maja stayed at Albert's summer house at Caputh near Berlin.[2] After Mussolini introduced anti-semitic laws in Italy Albert invited Maja to emigrate to the United States in 1939 and live in his Mercer Street residence in Princeton, New Jersey.[3] As her husband wasn’t allowed to enter the United States due to health reasons,[citation needed] he stayed with his brother-in-law Michele Besso in Geneva,[3] dying in 1952.

[edit] Facts about Paul Winteler

  • Winteler's father was Professor Jost Winteler who taught Greek and history at the Aarau technical school where Albert studied in 1895.[5]
  • Albert had lived with the Winteler family during his almost one year long stay in Aarau (1895/96).[5]

[edit] Death

Albert Einstein’s second wife Elsa had died in the house in Princeton in 1936. After Maja's arrival there, the siblings spent some nice years together.[3] Maja was bedridden after suffering a stroke in 1946[3] and later progressive arteriosclerosis. She died in Princeton on June 25, 1951.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] Citations

  1. ^ www.einstein-website.de
  2. ^ Highfield 1993, p. 203
  3. ^ a b c d e Highfield 1993, p. 248
  4. ^ Introducing Einstein
  5. ^ a b Highfield 1993, p. 21

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

[edit] External links

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