Einstein may have Died of Syphilis

I have posted a lot about Albert Einstein, but not much about his personal life.

From a Wash. Post book review a few months ago:

Einstein’s own efforts at ascension were not entirely successful. When he tried to transform himself into a spiritual leader nearly two decades after he was celebrated for his scientific accomplishments, he founded a movement called Cosmic Religion that garnered few converts. The reaction from notable representatives of both science and faith was for the most part negative. One prominent Catholic monsignor said, “There is only one fault with [Einstein’s] cosmical religion: he put an extra letter in the word — the letter ‘s.’” Niels Bohr, upon hearing Einstein quip that “God does not play dice with the universe,” scolded him, telling him to please stop telling God what he could do.

Scholars who have studied his private life have noted that his ex-wife, Mileva Marić, who became pregnant before their marriage with a daughter who never met her father, was found lying unconscious on the road shortly before her death. She had been walking through icy streets trying to reach their younger son, whom she cared for after Einstein left the family to marry his cousin Elsa. And Elsa, in turn, eventually learned to live with infidelities so numerous that Einstein’s personal doctor claimed without evidence that the aortal aneurysm to which he succumbed was probably a result of syphilis. In light of the publication in 1993 of some of the most cruel and salacious aspects of his private life after years of litigation against the Einstein estate, his granddaughter Evelyn Einstein felt vindicated: “Nobody likes to see their sacred cow criticized, but it is about time the real story came out.”

It links to a 1994 book saying Einstein was a misogynist who abandoned and mistreated his children.

Einstein historian Galina Weinstein has her own criticism of the book reviewed above, and she just tweeted about it. While she vigorously defends him on many fronts, she does not seem to deny that he was a horrible person in his private life.

His political views were also abominable, as he belonged to several Communist front groups.

He was primarily known as a physicist, so maybe he should be judged solely on that. Okay, I could accept that, until I read Einstein scholars saying that we must accept his accounts of how he discovered relativity, and that we should not denigrate him in a way that evokes ugly Jewish stereotypes.

No, he lied about relativity all his life. I do not accept anything he said, unless it can be independently verified. I don't think it necessarily has anything to do with being Jewish. Most Jews are much more honorable than Einstein.