The Tragedy of Albert Einstein's Children: One Disappeared Mysteriously, One Went Crazy and Died Alone

Albert Einstein is considered a great scientist and made many important contributions to the fields of science and technology. However, whether he was a good father or not is a complex issue and there are many different views.

Genius Albert Einstein was married twice in his life, but he only had 3 children with his only wife - Mrs. Mileva Maric. Einstein and his wife were both intelligent and talented people. It is known that Mileva Maric was the only female student studying Physics at the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich (Switzerland) - where she met and got to know her scholarly husband Albert Einstein.

Einstein's first child was born in 1902, named Lieserl Einstein . Lieserl is suspected to have been adopted by her parents, or died when she was only 1 year old. Currently, there is no official information clearly recording the life of Einstein's first daughter.

Shortly after, the Einstein couple welcomed two sons, Hans Albert Einstein (1904) and Eduard Einstein (1910) . According to recorded documents, the lives of these two Einstein sons both experienced a series of tragic events, partly due to the education of their genius father . While the youngest son Eduard passed away forever in a mental hospital, Hans Albert once painfully admitted that he was the only "project" that Einstein abandoned.

Albert Einstein and his first wife - Mileva Maric.

Genius Albert Einstein.

The whereabouts of the first child of genius Albert Einstein are still a mystery. Meanwhile, the lives of his two sons, Hans Albert Einstein and Eduard Einstein, both experienced a series of tragic events.

Hans Albert: The child "abandoned" by Einstein, successful career but never recognized by his father

When he was 10 years old, Einstein's second son - Hans Albert witnessed his parents' separation. The broken marriage of his parents affected his psychology . To fill the void, Hans Albert often locked himself in school for hours.

Hans Albert graduated from the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich (Switzerland) - where his parents had studied. Hans received a degree in civil engineering with top grades in the school. After leaving university, Hans spent several years as a structural steel engineer on a bridge project and continued his studies.

Despite his excellent academic achievements, Hans's career choice was not recognized by his genius father. Accordingly, Albert Einstein once said that his son's career path was a "disgusting idea". For this reason, for a long time, Albert Einstein and his father constantly had disagreements about their views on life and career.

Hans Albert (right) was not recognized by his genius father Albert Einstein for many years.

At the age of 23, Hans Albert married his first wife. Hans' choice of a spouse was once again strongly opposed by his father because his wife was not only 9 years older than him, but also had congenital dwarfism. Einstein was concerned that the "bad genes" of both would harm the next generation of the family.

"If they had no children, I could rest in peace ," Albert Einstein once wrote about his second son's marriage in a letter.

After Hans married, Hans and Einstein were said to have gradually mended their relationship, with Hans repeatedly asking his father for career and life advice. Although they had somewhat mended their differences, Einstein still repeatedly blamed his son for choosing a different career.

In fact, Hans Albert's career is also considered successful when he won many awards such as the Guggenheim Fellowship, a research award from the American Society of Civil Engineers and various awards from the US Department of Agriculture. However, compared to his genius father, Hans Albert is still very obscure and has never been recognized by Einstein.

In an interview with the media, Hans Albert painfully admitted: "I am probably the only "project" that my father gave up."

Hans Albert with his parents as a child.

Eduard Einstein: Intelligent and talented but his life ended in tragedy

In contrast to Hans Albert, his youngest son Eduard Einstein was expected by his genius father to continue his successful career. From a young age, Eduard showed intelligence and musical talent, showing a passion for poetry, piano and psychiatry.

Unfortunately, Eduard was physically weak. In a letter to a colleague, Einstein expressed concern about his youngest son's health: "I despair about his condition."

Even more serious, despite his genius, Eduard was diagnosed with schizophrenia at the age of 20. Throughout his life, Eduard attempted suicide several times but failed. At the age of 22, Eduard had to interrupt his studies to enter a mental hospital.

Eduard Einstein (left) possessed a genius mind, was called a "copy" by his father and was expected to continue Einstein's brilliant career, but his life ended in tragedy.

After falling ill, Eduard showed his distaste for his genius father. However, Albert still loved his son and paid all of Eduard's hospital bills. In every letter he sent to Eduard in the hospital, he always started by affectionately calling him "Dear Tete" and signed it "Papa".

Unfortunately for the Einstein family, historians believe that the psychiatric treatments of the time worsened Eduard's schizophrenia. For 30 years, Eduard was in and out of mental hospitals, and Mileva was his primary caregiver. Despite receiving financial support from her ex-husband from afar, she had to sell her house to pay for the expensive hospital bills. At the age of 38, when his mother passed away, Eduard moved to the Burghölzli Psychiatric Hospital (Switzerland).

Witnessing his son alone in the hospital, with no one by his side, Albert Einstein once exclaimed: "If I had known, I would not have let him come into this world."

Albert Einstein said about his youngest son: "If I had known, I would not have let him come into this world."

There was a time when Einstein had to emigrate to America due to the political situation. His second son Hans Albert went with him, but he could not take his youngest son Eduard Albert with him. The reason was Eduard's unstable mental state.

Einstein never expected that from here on, he and his son would never see each other again. At the age of 55, Eduard died alone in a mental hospital. Not long before his death, Eduard told a journalist: "Having a genius father is of no use to me."

The "price" of having a genius father

Albert Einstein was certainly a genius scientist, but whether he was a good father or not is still a controversial question . Many people believe that both sons Hans Albert and Eduard Einstein suffered severe psychological trauma after their parents' divorce.

According to Walter Isaacson (President of the Aspen Institute for Educational Policy Research), when Albert Einstein and his wife Mileva Maric's first marriage was on the verge of breaking up, the genius scientist drew up a marriage contract. In it, Albert Einstein wrote down some strict requirements such as:

1. His clothes and belongings must be kept neat.
2. Mileva Maric must give up personal relationships with her husband if he deems them unnecessary. Specifically, she will not be allowed to ask Albert Einstein to stay at home with her, go out or travel together.
3. Mileva Maric was not to expect any intimacy from Albert Einstein nor was she allowed to reproach him in any way.
4. Mileva Maric had to stop talking if Albert Einstein asked her to.

Although his wife reluctantly agreed to the terms, their marriage eventually fell apart.

Albert Einstein loved science so much that he was willing to sacrifice time for his wife, children and family.

Besides, Albert Einstein is considered to be a lover of science to the point of being willing to give up time for his family to nurture his career. Walter Isaacson once said about this genius scientist: "Albert Einstein tended to eliminate all distractions that hindered his work, including his children and family."

When Hans Albert and Eduard Einstein were young, Albert Einstein still spent time caring for them. But as time went on, he became more and more concerned with his work. He ignored his wife and children's requests to share and doubled his work. This made the family atmosphere tense at times. The breakdown in the relationship with his two sons was also understandable.