Einstein's previously unknown letter to his first love on exhibition in Switzerland
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E-mail Xinhua, April 15, 2015
The remains of a letter by 17-year-old Albert Einstein to his first girlfriend was for the first time made public in a week long exhibition here by the Bern Historical Museum.
With the theme "From the heart and From the head", the Museum said that it has collected some 100 newly discovered Einstein letters in the recent years from various private sources.
To the surprise of visitors, the "Einstein love letter" was originally torn into pieces and then carefully spliced for the exhibition.
In 1895, Einstein attended the Argovian cantonal school in Aarau of Switzerland to complete his secondary schooling. While lodging with the family of Professor Jost Winteler, he fell in love with Winteler's daughter, Marie.
According to the Museum, in Aarau for the first time in his life Einstein is glad to go to school and it was there that Einstein decided to study theoretical physics.
Einstein also wrote many letters to his first great love, Marie Winteler, during that period, and this is the first time such a letter was seen by the public.
In September 1896, Einstein enrolled in the four-year mathematics and physics teaching diploma program at the Zurich Polytechnic which is now called the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, while Marie Winteler moved to a small mountain town of Olsberg for a teaching post, their relationship began to cool down.
At beginning Einstein still sent her mails and sometimes baskets of his laundry, which she would wash and then return. But later Einstein suggested to stop corresponding and Einstein's coolness toward Marie was considered by the latter as "cruel".
"Did she tear up the letters when Einstein cooled towards her?" The Museum said in an instruction scrolling on the screen.
But the question is: why and who kept the torn pieces all the time until nowadays?
"We don't know the answer yet," said Dr. Stephanie Gropp of the Museum.
According to her, because the paper of the letters are very fragile, it took them several years to arrange and repair them before the exhibition.
Einstein then married his first wife later in January of 1903, but the marriage soon seemed to have some problems, because according to another letter wrote to Marie Winteler, Einstein said he still miss and have strong feelings for her.
In the letter wrote in 1910 while his wife was pregnant with their second child, Einstein said that "I think of you in heartfelt love every spare minute and am so unhappy as only a man can be".
Together with "Einstein love letter", things collected by the museum at the same time also include a photo of Einstein with his handwriting on the back: dedicated to the Winteler family.
Einstein's sister Maja, who later married Marie's brother Paul Winteler, was another "great letter writer" and the Museum also exhibited several her letters to Paul, one with several leaves in the envelope.
Stephanie said that for copyright reasons, the Museum for now still can not publish their new collections, but the Museum is contacting with the Jerusalem based Einstein Archive to get approval.
In accordance with Einstein's will, the Einstein Archive is responsible for dealing with all the copyright issues pertaining to Einstein's writings.
First conceived as a temporary exhibition in 2005, the Bern Historical Museum has developed a special Einstein Museum dedicated to the life and work of Einstein, who developed the Relativity Theory 100 years ago in the year 1915.
Until now a total of 500,000 people have visited the exhibition on Albert Einstein's life and work, the Museum said.
Born in 1879 and died on April 18 of 1955, Albert Einstein was regarded as the most important scientist in the past century. Endit
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