Albert Einstein, who was married in two different ways and has three children, was a very caring father to his children. The fact that his second child, Eduard, who was born in Zurich, Switzerland, on July 28, 1910, was a sick child, almost filled the famous physicist with grief.
The life story of Eduard Einstein, who, like his father, pursued science but could not reach his goals due to schizophrenia, which he struggled with throughout his life, is quite interesting.
Eduard was one of the children born of Albert Einstein’s marriage to his first wife, Mileva Maric.
The couple met while Albert Einstein was teaching at the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich. Mileva was the only female student in Albert’s class and her intelligence rivaled that of Albert. Although Mileva is 4 years older than Albert, this age difference did not matter to them.
Before Albert and Mileva got married, they had a daughter in 1902, but what happened to this girl they named “Lieserl” is quite a mystery. It is estimated that Lieserl died in the first years of his life or was given up for adoption by a family. Hans and Eduard brothers were born after this couple got married.
Eduard’s life was spent fighting illness from the day he was born until the day he took his last breath.
Eduard Einstein had a weak immunity and was a child who was often sick. For this reason, he had to spend most of his time at home. During his time at home, he was interested in poetry, playing the piano and reading various sources in the field of psychiatry. He was especially a fan of Sigmund Freud.
Although Eduard became interested in different fields over the years, his ideal was always to devote himself to science and study psychiatry like his father. He expressed his admiration for his father with the following sentence: “Sometimes it is difficult to have such an important father because one feels so insignificant.”
In this direction, he started to study at the University of Zurich and, by a twist of fate, fell in love with an older woman at school just like his father.
This love came back to Eduard, who had a very difficult life, as a psychological disorder that he would fight for the rest of his life.
This sadness took Eduard, who gradually went into a mental collapse with the separation he lived, to the brink of suicide in his 20s. Meanwhile, doctors had diagnosed the young man with schizophrenia.
Albert Einstein, who could not find any ways to heal his son, but could not find it; In a letter he wrote to a colleague, he said, “My little son’s situation is very upsetting to me. It is not possible for him to be a fully developed human being.”
The father believed that his son’s ailment was hereditary and inherited this disease from the mother. Albert’s second wife, Elsa, said that the helpless father was “devouring himself with grief”.
Eduard’s struggle with life was made even more difficult by his father’s emigration to America.
Although Albert Einstein wanted to take his sons with him, Eduard’s general condition was not suitable for this journey. This farewell was the last time the father saw his son. For the rest of his life, Albert wrote regularly to his son and was never without financial support.
The helpless young man, who had been subjected to severe treatment for years, was even more shaken by his father’s departure and was left alone in a clinic in Switzerland where he spent his days.
While Eduard Einstein was expected to improve, he lost his cognitive abilities as well as his speaking ability as a result of the heavy treatments he received.
Eduard, who came to this mental hospital to be a cure for his troubles, became his grave; He died between these four walls, where he spent thirty years of his life. He died of a stroke in October 1965 at the age of 55 and was buried in the Hönggerberg cemetery in Zurich.
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