Oppenheimer's Explosive Love Life
J Robert Oppenheimer, the American scientist known as the 'father of the atom bomb,' had a tumultuous love life, as portrayed in Christopher Nolan's biopic Oppenheimer. The film, starring Cillian Murphy, features racy sex scenes. Oppenheimer had two children with his wife Katherine, nicknamed 'Kitty.' Their son Peter and daughter Toni led very different lives from their father but were immensely proud of him.
Isaac Newton: The Virgin Genius
Sir Isaac Newton, famous for discovering gravity after an apple fell from a tree, was clueless about romance. He never married and once fell out with a friend who tried to 'embroil me with women.' It is widely believed Newton died a virgin at age 84 in 1727.
Sigmund Freud: A Freudian Slip?
Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis and a pioneer in studying sexual desire, may have been hands-on with his research. He married Martha Bernays in 1886 and had six children over 50 years. However, psychiatrist Carl Jung alleged Freud had an affair with Martha's sister Minna. A Swiss hotel register from 1898 shows they booked a double room as husband and wife.
Marie Curie: A Secret Flame
Marie Curie, the Polish-born pioneer of radioactivity, was married to French husband Pierre for 11 years until his death in 1906. Four years later, the 43-year-old mother of two began a torrid affair with younger scientist Paul Langevin, a married father of four. When his wife exposed the affair, it caused a scandal that nearly cost Curie a Nobel Prize. Langevin refused a divorce, and Curie died in 1934 at age 66.
Albert Einstein: Hair-Raising Antics
Albert Einstein's sex life was as wild as his hair. The German-born physicist divorced wife Mileva in 1919 to marry his cousin Elsa after they began an affair. He soon cheated on Elsa with his secretary Betty and had other conquests before and after Elsa's death in 1936. Einstein died in 1955 at age 76.
Sir Clive Sinclair: A Fast Mover
British inventor Sir Clive Sinclair, known for the Sinclair C5 electric vehicle, had a runaway love life. He divorced wife Ann to marry 33-year-old lap dancer and former Miss England Angie Bowness in 2010, when he was 69. They divorced seven years later. Sinclair, who admitted a weakness for beautiful women, died in 2021 at age 81.
Stephen Hawking: Sexy Time
Physicist Stephen Hawking, author of A Brief History of Time, lived with motor neurone disease for over 50 years. After 20 years of marriage to Jane, he fell in love with carer Elaine Mason, divorced, and married her in 1995. They divorced in 2006. In later life, he was spotted at strip clubs like Stringfellows in London. Hawking died in 2018 at age 76, admitting he found women 'a complete mystery.'
Leonardo Da Vinci: Code Red
Leonardo Da Vinci, who painted the Mona Lisa, thought sex was 'disgusting.' He never married or had children. In 1476, at age 24, he narrowly escaped execution after being accused of sodomy with a 17-year-old male model. He was acquitted but committed to celibacy for life.
Charles Darwin: Unnatural Selection
Charles Darwin, who pioneered the theory of evolution, married his first cousin Emma Wedgwood in 1839. They had 10 children, but Darwin worried inbreeding caused ill health among his offspring; three died young. He once wrote, 'We are a wretched family and ought to be exterminated.'
Oppenheimer: Total Bombshell
Oppenheimer, who said 'I am become death, the destroyer of worlds' after the Manhattan Project, had a lust for life. He slept with the already-married Kitty at a scientist's party, leading to her divorce. After their 1940 marriage and two children, he rekindled an affair with former lover and psychiatrist Jean Tatlock, who took her own life in 1944.
