Was Albert Einstein a Good Husband?

Albert Einstein was a genius as a theoretical physicist, but he was pretty much a failure as a husband, relatively speaking. According to some of Einstein's personal letters released in 2006 by his stepdaughter, Margot, he had multiple affairs during both of his marriages and even asked Margot to deliver a love letter to one of his mistresses. Although Einstein spent much of his time away from home, ostensibly lecturing in America and Europe, he also took time out to go sailing and concert-going with his lovers. It was well-known that Einstein was unhappy in his first marriage to Mileva Marić, but even after leaving her to marry his cousin, Elsa, he apparently still needed the attention of other women. And he wasn't shy about letting Elsa know about his needs, either. In one letter to her, he described not only his attempts to give up smoking and how he had grown weary of talking about the theory of relativity, but he also provided details about his mistresses. The letters, part of a batch of 3,500 given to the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, date from 1912 to Einstein's death in 1955.

All about Albert Einstein:

• The FBI kept a 1,427-page file on Einstein and his association with socialist and pacifist organizations.
• Einstein's second son, Eduard, was institutionalized for much of his adult life after being diagnosed with schizophrenia.
• Einstein's interest in science reportedly began when his father gave him a compass at age 5 and little Albert wanted to know what made the needle point north.