Part providence, part your doing!

As mid year wedding bells ring true for some at OfBusiness, sharing an inspiring story of force multipliers in matrimony.

In the early 1900s, 2 wedded Physics couples were the talk of town in Europe, Einsteins (Albert, Mileva Maric) in Zurich and the Curies (Pierre, Marie) in Paris.

Women in research never hogged the limelight: their grades were in stealth, their degrees came late, they couldn’t publish and seldom called for lectures.

Both women, though, were academically brighter than their spouses. We know of Marie – 1st lady to a Nobel (1903, Radiation) and the 1st to win twice (1911, Radium). But what about Mileva Maric?

She immersed herself for life in Albert’s research, which got him to a Nobel (1921, Photoelectric Effect). But she wasn’t even cited and her contributions are still under debate. She died a pauper, unable to pay for their son’s care.

Marie was luckier. When the Nobel committee wrote to Pierre in 1903 congratulating him, he rejected it unless his wife was recognized too as it’d heavy inputs from her. The committee budged and the rest is history. Their legacy continued to their daughter Irene, she won the “couple” Nobel in Chemistry (1935).

Your spouse could be a force multiplier: Part providence, part your doing!