Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Einstein's Wife

The documentary "Einstein's Wife" appeared on US Public Broadcasting Station (PBS) in 2003. However, the controversy surrounding the documentary hasn't subsided even now. This is certainly true between the producer of the documentary, Geraldine Hilton, and physicist/historian Allen Esterson.

The whole issue here is whether Einstein's first wife, Mileva Maric, played a significant but uncredited role in producing the 3 papers by Einstein during his miraculous year of 1905. The PBS Ombudsman has produced a detailed account of the whole transaction and point-counterpoint between these two parties. It is VERY long, and very tedious. However, PBS should be commended in publishing this openly for other readers to follow.

Zz.

1 comment:

Allen Esterson said...

Zz writes:
> The PBS Ombudsman has produced a detailed account of the whole transaction and point-counterpoint between these two parties. It is VERY long, and very tedious.<

May I suggest that the Ombudsman’s detailed account can be short-circuited by reading my responses to writer/producer Geraldine Hilton’s defence of her contentions at:

http://www.esterson.org/Defending_Einsteins_Wife_2.htm

http://www.esterson.org/Defending_Einsteins_Wife_Website.htm

I have quoted Hilton’s statements in these articles. Her full replies to which I have responded can be found by scrolling to the end of the Ombudsman’s report:
http://www.pbs.org/ombudsman/2006/12/einsteins_wife_the_relative_motion_of_facts.html

Zz writes:
>However, PBS should be commended in publishing this openly for other readers to follow.<

The commendation should go to the Ombudsman Michael Getler, acting independently of PBS, who has done a remarkable job in presenting the material relating to the dispute.