When the last of Albert Einstein's sealed personal letters were released this summer, the media couldn't resist taking potshots at the famous genius. Fox News titled its news segment "Albert Einstein: Genius, Stud Muffin." Talk show host Jimmy Kimmel recast Einstein as a B-grade celebrity. "He had like half a dozen girlfriends," Kimmel said. "He was like the Wilmer Valderrama of astrophysics."
Einstein's stepdaughter, Margot, anticipated this kind of snickering, because the letters—a series of intimate family dialogues—reveal that Einstein had affairs with seven or so women while married. When she bequeathed the letters to Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Margot therefore stipulated that they were not to be published until 20 years after her death. To those who understand Einstein best, however, the letters do little to diminish his legend.
Einstein scholars, who have known about the content of these letters for decades, are unfazed by the latest revelations. "You ...
