The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein Volume 1 presents important new material on the young Einstein. Over half the documents made available here were discovered by the editors, including a significant group of over fifty letters that Einstein exchanged with Mileva Maric, his fellow student, and future wife. Together with other previously unpublished documents, these letters provide an entirely new view of Einstein’s youth. The documents in the volume also foreshadow the emergence of his extraordinary creative power. In them is manifested his intense commitment to scientific work and his interest in certain themes that proved to be central to his thinking during the next decade.
Documents in The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein Volume 1 portray Einstein’s experiences during the two stressful years after he graduates from the ETH in Zurich. Denied a position as an Assistant at the ETH, he lived a hand-to-mouth existence while he looked for a post at other universities. He attempted to find a secondary-school post and finally sought a nonacademic job. Tension with his parents over his plans to marry Mileva Maric is evident throughout this period. With the help of a friend, he finally found work at the Swiss Patent Office, the haven where he would spend the next seven years.
Freed from his financial worries, he entered one of the most productive periods of his life, as the next volume, Writings (1901-1910), will document.
