---
title: "Einstein family"
chunk: 2/4
source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_family"
category: "reference"
tags: "science, encyclopedia"
date_saved: "2026-05-05T04:05:30.588947+00:00"
instance: "kb-cron"
---

=== Work ===
Albert Einstein’s father, Hermann Einstein, was an engineer and entrepreneur who co-founded an electrical engineering company, Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie. Based initially in Munich, the company manufactured electrical devices such as arc lamps and dynamos, and was involved in the installation of lighting systems throughout southern Germany and parts of northern Italy. Though the business saw early success, it struggled to compete with larger firms like AEG and Siemens. These difficulties eventually forced the company to close, prompting the Einstein family to move to Milan and later to Pavia in the 1890s.
Hermann played a significant role in encouraging Albert’s early interest in science and engineering. He often took Albert on factory visits and supported his education despite the family’s financial instability. After the closure of the company, Hermann continued to seek work in the electrical industry but did not achieve the same level of business success again. He died in Milan in 1902, while Albert was still a student in Zürich.
Pauline Einstein, Albert’s mother, came from a cultured and middle-class Jewish family. Although she did not pursue formal employment, she was an accomplished pianist and had a strong appreciation for music, literature, and education. She made efforts to ensure that her children were raised in an intellectually rich environment. Pauline encouraged Albert to take up the violin, and her influence helped foster his lifelong passion for classical music, particularly Mozart and Bach. Her support of education and the arts had a lasting impact on both of her children.
Albert’s only sibling, Maria "Maja" Einstein, was born in 1881 and also pursued academic interests. She studied Romance languages and literature, ultimately earning a doctorate from the University of Bern. While she did not enter a professional academic career, she remained intellectually active and closely involved in Albert’s personal and intellectual life. After marrying Swiss philologist Paul Winteler, Maja moved with him to Italy and later to the United States, where she lived with Albert in Princeton for a time after fleeing Nazi Germany.

=== Death ===
Hermann Einstein died of heart failure in Milan in 1902. His grave is in Civico Mausoleo Palanti inside Cimitero Monumentale di Milano. Hermann Einstein was 55 years old when he died.

== Maria "Maja" Einstein (Albert's younger sister) ==

Maria "Maja" Einstein (18 November 1881 – 25 June 1951) and her older brother, Albert, were the two children of Hermann Einstein and Pauline Einstein (née Koch), who had moved from Ulm to Munich in June 1881, when Albert was one. There Hermann and his brother Jakob had founded Einstein & Cie., an electrical engineering company.
She attended elementary school in Munich from 1887 to 1894. She then moved with her parents to Milan, where she attended the German International School; Albert had stayed behind with relatives in Munich to complete his schooling. From 1899 to 1902, she attended a workshop for teachers in Aarau. After she passed her final exams, she studied Romance languages and literature in Berlin, Bern and Paris. In 1909, she graduated from the University of Bern; her dissertation was entitled "Contribution to the Tradition of the Chevalier au Cygne and the Enfances Godefroi".
In the year following her graduation, she married Paul Winteler, but they were to be childless. The young couple moved to Luzern in 1911, where Maja's husband had found a job. In 1922, they moved to Colonnata near Florence in Italy.
After the Italian leader Benito Mussolini introduced anti-Semitic laws in Italy, Albert invited Maja to emigrate to the United States in 1939 and live in his residence in Mercer Street, Princeton, New Jersey. Her husband was denied entry into the United States on health grounds. Maja spent some pleasant years with Albert, until she had a stroke in 1946, and became bedridden. She later developed progressive arteriosclerosis, and died in Princeton on 25 June 1951 four years before her brother.

== Lieserl Einstein (Albert's daughter) ==