Einstein's Wife by Andrea Gabor

In this book Gabor outlines the careers and marriages of five women. It begins with mathematician Mileva Maric Einstein, Albert Einstein's (long suffering and much-maligned) first wife. Other essays continue in chronological order with artist Lee Krasner, married to painter Jackson Pollock and Maria Goeppert Mayer, whose work in nuclear physics won the Nobel Prize in 1963. Then there is my favourite, Denise Scott Brown, half of the famed U.S. architectural team Venturi Scott Brown. She is followed by the youngest of the lot, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, whose profile--could it be just coincidence?--is by far the most cheerful story of the bunch. O'Connor's freedom of choices allowed her to create a full family life for herself as well as a spectacular career.

Well, that's the rundown. It's a worthy book, but by its nature, each life depicted must be brief. The essays give a good general picture of the social context the women were working within, the relative importance of family and children to each, and gently touches on personal/individual traits that helped and hindered each woman in her self-fufillment. One general irony to watch out for, ladies: by pairing themselves off with alpha-males in their fields, most of these women ensured a continuing connection with their interests, as well as the opportunities to think and work with their own talents in a sexist society. Of course this also impaired their abilities to receive recogition, and even salaries, for their valuable work.

---

Leave a comment

name
email (if you want to be notified)
<-- Please retype the word you see here:
Notify me when someone replies to this post?

---