What
were Albert Einstein's first wife’s contributions to his extraordinary
productivity in the first years of his career? A first biography of Mileva
Marić was published in Serbian in 1969 but remained largely unknown despite
being translated first in German, then in French in the 1990’s. The publication
of Mileva and Albert’s love letters in 1987 brought more information and more
recently, two publications shed more light on Mileva Marić’s life and work. I
will review this evidence in its social and historical context to give a better
idea on her contributions. The audience will be able to appreciate why such a
talented physicist has been so unkindly treated by history.