Quantum_ Einstein, Bohr and the Great Debate About the Nature of Reality - Manjit Kumar [24]
Although anti-Semitism may have played a part, Einstein was convinced that it was Weber's poor references that were behind his failure to secure an assistantship. As he grew increasingly despondent, a letter from Grossmann held out the possibility of a decent, well-paying job. Grossmann senior had learnt of Einstein's desperate situation and wanted to help the young man whom his son held in such high regard. He strongly recommended Einstein for the next vacancy that arose to his friend Friedrich Haller, the director of the Swiss Patent Office in Bern. 'When I found your letter yesterday,' Einstein wrote to Marcel, 'I was deeply moved by your devotion and compassion which did not let you forget your old luckless friend.'32 After five years of being stateless, Einstein had recently acquired Swiss citizenship and was certain it would help when applying for the job.
Maybe his luck had changed at last. He was offered and accepted a temporary teaching job at the school in Winterthur, a small town less than twenty miles from Zurich. The five or six classes Einstein taught each morning left him free to pursue physics in the afternoon. 'I cannot tell you how happy I would feel in such a job', he wrote to Papa Winteler shortly before his time in Winterthur ended. 'I have completely given up my ambition to get a position at a university, since I see that even as it is, I have enough strength and desire left for scientific endeavour.'33 Soon that strength was put to the test when Mileva announced she was pregnant.
After failing the Poly exams a second time, Mileva returned to her parents in Hungary to await the arrival of the baby. Einstein took the news of the pregnancy in his stride. He had already entertained thoughts of becoming an insurance clerk and now vowed to find any job, no matter how humble, so that they could marry. When their daughter was born, Einstein was in Bern. He never saw Lieserl. What happened to her, whether she was given up for adoption or died in infancy, remains a mystery.
In December 1901, Friedrich Haller wrote to Einstein asking him to apply for a vacancy at the Patent Office that was about to be advertised.34 The long search for a permanent job seemed at an end as Einstein sent off his application before Christmas. 'All the time I rejoice in the fine prospects which are in store for us in the near future', he wrote to Mileva. 'Have I already told you how rich we will be in Bern?'35 Convinced that everything would be settled quickly, Einstein quit a year-long tutoring job at a private boarding school in Schaffhausen after only a few months.
Bern was home to some 60,000 people when Einstein arrived during the first week of February 1902. The medieval elegance of the Old Town quarter had changed little in the 500 years since it had been rebuilt following a fire that destroyed half the city. It was here that Einstein found a room on Gerechtigkeitgasse, not far from the city's famous bear pit.36 Costing 23 francs a month, it was anything but the 'large, beautiful room' he described to Mileva.37 Not long after he unpacked his bags, Einstein went down to the local newspaper to place an advert offering his services as a private tutor of mathematics and physics. It appeared on Wednesday, 5 February and offered a free trial lesson. Within days it paid off. One of the students described his new tutor as 'about five foot ten, broad-shouldered, slightly stooped, a pale brown skin, a sensuous mouth, black moustache, nose slightly aquiline, radiant