The bronze commemorative plaque with a bust of Albert Einstein (1879, Ulm - 1955, Princeton), which was unveiled on the centenary of his birth, can be found on the house in the former Třebízského, now Lesnická Street No. 1215 in Smíchov, where he lived with his family during his stay in Prague from 1911 to 1912.

Einstein and his family lived at this address the whole time they were in Prague. After auditioning for the vacancy left by Professor of Mathematical Physics F. Lippich at the local German University, the young physicist was appointed full professor and head of the Institute for Theoretical Physics and moved to Prague. Here, for the first time in his life, Albert Einstein had a secure existence. His young family, i.e. Albert Einstein and Mileva, née Marić (1875-1948), and their sons, Hans Albert (1904-1973) and Eduard (1910-1965), moved into a recently built townhouse in what was then Třebízského Street on 15 April 1911. However, the Einsteins did not get used to the Prague environment. Among the duties of a decreed professor in Prague was to pay courtesy visits to the other professors, but Einstein found these formalities pointless. If he visited any of his forty co-professors, it was primarily to get to know the city itself during these walks. In the summer of 1912, the Einsteins moved back to Zurich, although the professorship at the university was until the end of September.

In Prague Einstein lectured five hours a week in the Clementinum. But his office was in Viničná Street, in today`s building of the Faculty of Science of Charles University, where he taught a seminar. After Einstein`s “miraculous year of 1905” in which he presented his four foundational works: the special theory of relativity, the quantization of the electromagnetic field, the photoelectric effect and the principle of Brownian motion, he was mainly concerned with the first considerations of gravitational lenses during his stay in Prague. In April 1912 he went from Prague to consult Professor Erwin Finlay-Freudlich on the subject. The Professor then - despite the first negative consultation in Berlin - proposed experiments for the possible testing of Einstein`s general theory of relativity and the measurement of the gravitational red shift (Einstein Tower by the architect E. Mendelsohn).

In Prague, however, the couple slowly began to grow apart. Einstein married for the second time in 1919 his long-time partner and cousin Elsa Loewenstahl (1876-1936), who then took care of him, especially after his emigration from Germany to the USA where she lived with the famous scientist and recipient of the Nobel Prize in 1921. This year Einstein also visited Prague for the second time.

Connected places: Commemorative Plaque with the Head of Albert Einstein
Commemorative Plaque to Albert Einstein on Oldtown Square in PraguePamětní deska s reliéfem hlavy Alberta Einsteina v budově Přírodovědecké fakulty UK; Pamětní deska Alberta Einsteina na Staroměstském náměstí

Keywords: physics; mathematics; Albert Einstein; Nobel Prize; German University in Prague; Mileva Marić-Einstein; theory of relativity

Frýdlová, P.: Mileva Marić-Einstein a její přínos teorii relativity. Názorový portál současného feminismu (Feminismus.cz, 23. 3. 2004). – URL: https://www.feminismus.cz/cz/clanky/mileva-mari-einstein-a-jeji-prinos-teorii-relativity [21. 10. 2021].

Commemorative bust of Albert Einstein in Smíchov, Prague