Eduard Einstein
| Eduard Einstein | |
|---|---|
| Born | 28 July 1910 Zurich |
| Died | Script error: The function "death_date_and_age" does not exist. Psychiatric Clinic Burghölzli, Zurich |
| Cause of death | Stroke |
| Resting place | Cemetery Hönggerberg, Zurich |
| Residence | Switzerland (1910-1965) |
| Nationality | Switzerland |
| Other names | "Tete" |
| Parent(s) | Albert Einstein and Mileva Marić |
| Relatives | Hans Albert Einstein, Lieserl |
| Notes | |
|
"Make a lot of walks to get healthy and don’t read that much but save yourself some until you’re grown up." Albert Einstein in a letter to his son Eduard, June 1918 |
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Eduard Einstein (28 July 1910 – 25 October 1965) was born in Zürich, Switzerland, the second son of physicist Albert Einstein and his first wife Mileva Marić. Albert Einstein and his family moved to Berlin in 1914. Shortly thereafter the parents separated, and Marić returned to Zürich, taking Eduard and his older brother Hans Albert with her. His father remarried in 1919 and in the 1930s emigrated to the United States under the threat of the German Nazi regime.
A good student, Eduard began to study medicine with the goal of entering the new field of psychiatry. At age 20 he was diagnosed with schizophrenia and two years later was committed to an asylum for the first of several times throughout the remainder of his life. After his mother's death in 1948, he was committed full-time.
Life
Eduard was a good student and had musical talent. After gymnasium, he started to study medicine to become a psychiatrist, but by the age of twenty, he was diagnosed with schizophrenia. He was institutionalized two years later for the first of several times. Biographers of his father have speculated that the drugs and "cures" of the time did more damage to the young Einstein than aide to him, but schizophrenia can be intractable.[1] His brother Hans Albert Einstein believed that his memory and cognitive abilities were damaged by electroconvulsive therapy treatments.[2]
After suffering a breakdown, Eduard had told his father that he hated him. Albert Einstein immigrated to the United States from Germany in 1933 after the rise of the Nazi German government and never saw his son again.[3] The father and son, whom the father fondly referred to as "Tete" (for petit), corresponded regularly before and after Eduard became ill. Their correspondence continued after the father's immigration to the United States.[4][5]
Eduard remained interested in music and art,[6] wrote poetry,[7] and was a Sigmund Freud enthusiast. He hung a picture of Freud on his bedroom wall.[8]
His mother cared for him until she died in 1948. From then on Eduard lived most of the time at the psychiatric clinic Burghölzli in Zurich, where he died in 1965 of a stroke at age 55. He is buried at Hönggerberg Cemetery in Zurich.[9] Groups working to support research on mental illness have used the prominence of the Einstein family to help raise public awareness of schizophrenia.[citation needed]
References
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Barry Parker (2003): Einstein: The Passions of a Scientist. Prometheus Books. New York. p. 236.
- ↑ Parker (2003): Einstein, pp. 236-237.
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- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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- ↑ "Albert Einstein on Sigmund Freud"
- ↑ Robert Dünki, Anna Pia Maissen: «... damit das traurige Dasein unseres Sohnes etwas besser gesichert wird» Mileva und Albert Einsteins Sorgen um ihren Sohn Eduard (1910–1965). Die Familie Einstein und das Stadtarchiv Zürich. In: Stadtarchiv Zürich. Jahresbericht 2007/2008. (german)
See also
Further reading
- Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. (German)
External links
- Short life history of Eduard Einstein - Albert Einstein web site
- Famous People and Schizophrenia - Schizophrenia.com.
- Robert Dünki, Anna Pia Maissen: «…damit das traurige Dasein unseres Sohnes etwas besser gesichert wird» Mileva und Albert Einsteins Sorgen um ihren Sohn Eduard (1910–1965). Die Familie Einstein und das Stadtarchiv Zürich. In: Stadtarchiv Zürich. Jahresbericht 2007/2008. (German)
- Thomas Huonker: Diagnose: «moralisch defekt» Kastration, Sterilisation und «Rassenhygiene» im Dienst der Schweizer Sozialpolitik und Psychiatrie 1890-1970. «Er versank immer mehr in Apathie und Untätigkeit» Prominente als Patienten, Zürich 2003, p. 204ff. (German)
