sofr1na

#36

Writing about homosociality, sparked sth in my mind. Tesla vs Einstein beef was an actual demonstration of homosociality in action 😃

Tesla, the celibate visionary who rejected marriage and warned against distraction, was marginalized and dismissed. He once remarked that you cannot name many great inventions by married men. What sounded eccentric at the time was actually his way of resisting the patriarchal model of genius.

Einstein, the married man who benefited from his wife’s (Mileva Marić) intellectual labor, was elevated into near-mythic status. The difference was not only in their theories but in how society rewarded one and erased the other.

Paradox here? Einstein disrespected his wife by burying her role in his work. Society disrespected Tesla by burying him in obscurity. The patriarchal machine had two gears: erase women who contributed, and erase men who refused to exploit them. Either way, the story of genius was written to preserve a certain kind of masculinity 😡 the man who has both the household support of a woman and the intellectual spotlight of society.

Tesla died poor, mocked, and forgotten, while Einstein’s face was Trendy and he became a celebrity. Most ppl know Tesla just because he became a car’s name! But remembering him alongside Mileva changes the picture of scientific history. It shows how much of “genius” is not only about ideas but about structures of power, patriarchy, and who society chooses to listen to.