uncredited women in history . . .

[gardenmom5]

"Albert Einstein’s first wife Mileva (Mitza) Marić was also a brilliant physicist. They met at the Polytechnic Institute of Zurich, where she had fought for special permissions to attend and where she received higher marks than Albert. Mitza put in as much if not more work on their theories but wasn’t credited because Albert told her their works wouldn’t get published with a woman’s name on them.

Many of his lecture notes are in Mitza’s handwriting, and Albert was once heard at a party saying, “I need my wife, she helps solve all of my mathematical problems.” 80% of Einstein’s famous works were published during this marriage, referred to as his “magic years.” Those magic years ended abruptly after they divorced due to his infidelity and abandonment."

Happy Women’s History Month to the real genius of the Einstein family, Mileva Marić

[Ditto]

This is amazing!  I'm so glad you shared this.  What a brilliant woman.  I hate she didn't get the credit she deserved during her lifetime.

[gardenmom5]

54 minutes ago, Ditto said:

This is amazing!  I'm so glad you shared this.  What a brilliant woman.  I hate she didn't get the credit she deserved during her lifetime.

She got access to his nobel prize money as part of their divorce settlement - to help support their children.

[EKS]

Just how much Marić contributed to Einstein's work is a contested area.  Unfortunately, just as there was a tendency to downplay or omit reference to women's contributions to science and math in the past, the tendency more recently is to overstate these contributions.  It is possible that this is what happened here.  

See, for example, this excerpt from the book Einstein's Wife: The Real Story of Mileva Einstein-Marić. 

[wintermom]

I'm sure that there are hundreds and thousands of uncredited women in all walks of life, not just the "big, important" contributions to society.

A couple examples of typical lesser publicized worthy things done by women without recognition: my paternal grandmother was an uncredited young woman who stepped up to take her sick father's place with the farm work that needed doing. She kept the family alive to go on to have famlies of their own. My maternal grandmother became a widow with three minor children on a farm, and she also stepped up to keep the family together and the farm running.

Being a strong, capable woman is part of my heritage that I'm both thankful for and humbled by. I lead a pretty easy life in comparison.

Edited June 23 by wintermom

[Jaybee]

1 minute ago, wintermom said:

Being a strong, capable woman is part of my heritage that I'm both thankful for and humbled by. I lead a pretty easy life in comparison.

Same. Not so sure I would do as well in the same circumstances. I like to hope that I have some of their grit and spirit.