Without these women, we probably would never have heard of Einstein

Worldwide, Albert Einstein is celebrated as a genius, but his success was partly due to brilliant women. His story illustrates that innovation is rarely a solo effort but thrives on collaboration, writes innovation expert Simone van Neerven.

Iconic photo

On March 14, 1951, Albert Einstein turned 72, and a large birthday party was organised for him at the Institute for Advanced Study. Journalists were not allowed in, so after the party, they all tried to take his picture as he left the building.

After several photos, Einstein visibly had had enough. Photographer Arthur Sasse asked for one last photo. Instead of smiling politely, Einstein stuck out his tongue as a sign of defiance against the constant public scrutiny.

A heated debate in Sasse’s office followed over whether it would be appropriate to release the photo, given Einstein’s prominent position. But the scientist himself loved the image, and so it was published. The iconic photo became an international sensation, lasting to this day.

Hero status

Albert Einstein is regarded worldwide as an icon of genius and one of the most influential scientists of all time. His name has become almost synonymous with the word genius, and he is known to everyone on the planet.

Less well-known is that he owes his success in part to several unique collaborations. He receives abundant praise, while the people around him, who made his success possible, receive little attention.

We see this far more often. For example, Steve Jobs was considered the genius behind Apple, and almost no one knows that Jobs, for example, resisted the idea of the iPhone for six months, while a group of engineers stubbornly persisted and eventually convinced him.

Einstein's first wife

In 1896, when Mileva Marić was 20 and Albert Einstein 17, they met at ETH Zurich, a prestigious technical university in Switzerland. Both attended the diploma program in Mathematics and Physics, where Mileva was the only woman. They took the same courses, studied together, and discussed difficult questions.

Einstein was impressed by her intelligence and her passion for Physics. In those years, a romantic relationship developed, during which they exchanged many letters about their love for each other. They also shared scientific ideas, and referred to them as “our work” and “our theory.”

Although Marić’s name is not mentioned in the published articles, there is a strong suspicion that she played a vital role in Einstein’s work, especially since Marić was better at developing the mathematical foundation of the theory.

Math tutoring by Emmy Noether

Years later, Einstein struggled with several mathematical themes again. It was the mathematician Emmy Noether who came to the rescue and became his mathematical sounding board. She helped him understand and validate the mathematical basis of her theory.

Einstein was deeply impressed by her mathematical clarity and publicly acknowledged that her insights were fundamental to understanding the structure of his theory.

Innovation is not about individual genius

Innovation is often seen as a solo activity. We have a romanticised image of the genius inventor who has an “aha moment” in seclusion and then comes up with a brilliant idea. But nothing could be further from the truth, as the stories of Marić and Noether show.

Innovation is the result of collaboration, knowledge sharing, and being open to serendipity. By emphasising individual genius, the complex, collective, and often chaotic nature of innovation is ignored. As Harvard professor Linda Hill puts it: “Innovation is not about solo genius, it’s about collective genius.”

Not too serious

And Einstein? He knew this all too well. That photo with his tongue became famous not only for the funny facial expression, but because it shows that Einstein didn’t take himself too seriously.

In the years before he published his famous theory of relativity, he regularly spoke of Marić as his ‘intellectual equal‘. And he also praised Noether, calling her a ‘creative mathematical genius‘ and praising her as one of the greatest mathematicians of their time.

This article was originally published in Dutch on MT/Sprout, the most popular business and management platform in the Netherlands.