Einstein and Besso: from Z'urich to Milano

The 1896-1901 Milanese period is a key one to understand Einstein’s training background. When he was a student at the ETH in Z"urich (the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Z"urich) from 1896 to 1900, he would make regular trips back to Milan to stay with his family who was involved in the development of the electricity industry in northern Italy. Between 1899 and 1901, he would meet his faithful friend and collaborator, Michele Besso in Milan on a regular basis. Given their relationship, the 1899-1901 Milanese period therefore foreshadowed the Bern period later in 1904. In order to specify the circumstances under which Einstein and Besso got the chance to meet, we will show that their respective families did have interconnected social networks, especially through the electricity sector and the polytechnic engineering Universities of Z"urich and Milan. The branch of the Cantoni family, on Michele’s mother’s side, rather ignored by now, played a crucial role: with Vittorio Cantoni, a renowned electrical engineer who had not been previously identified as being Michele’s uncle, and Giuseppe Jung, professor at the Milan Politecnico. We will also show that when staying in Milan, Einstein, who lived in a well-known Milanese palace in the heart of the city, worked in the nearby rich library of the Istituto Lombardo, Accademia di Scienze e Lettere in Brera. The linkage between the scientific observations which can be found in Einstein’s correspondence and this library collection sheds new light on his scientific work, in particular on his original thesis.

💡 Research Summary

The paper investigates the formative Milanese period (1896‑1901) in Albert Einstein’s early scientific development, focusing on his interactions with his lifelong friend and collaborator Michele Besso. While Einstein was a student at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich (ETH) from 1896 to 1900, he regularly returned to Milan to stay with his family, who were deeply involved in the burgeoning electricity industry of northern Italy. Between 1899 and 1901, Einstein and Besso met frequently in Milan, a circumstance the author argues foreshadowed their later collaboration in Bern.

A central thesis of the study is that the two families were linked through a dense network of engineers, industrialists, and academic institutions, especially within the electricity sector and the polytechnic engineering schools of Zurich and Milan. The author uncovers a previously overlooked branch of the Cantoni family on Besso’s maternal side. Vittorio Cantoni, a prominent electrical engineer responsible for early high‑voltage power‑grid projects in Italy, is identified as Besso’s uncle—a relationship not documented in earlier biographies. Additionally, Giuseppe Jung, a professor at the Milan Politecnico, is shown to have been a close family associate; Jung’s contributions to physics and mathematics curricula and his donation of technical monographs to the Istituto Lombardo, Accademia di Scienze e Lettere, created a scholarly conduit between the two circles.

The paper also reconstructs Einstein’s physical environment in Milan. He lodged in a well‑known palace in the city centre (the Palazzo della Banca) and made extensive use of the nearby Istituto Lombardo library in Brera. By cross‑referencing Einstein’s letters, the library’s acquisition records, and contemporary catalogues, the author demonstrates that the library housed the latest works on Maxwell’s equations, electromagnetic wave theory, and experimental manuals on electrical apparatus. Einstein’s correspondence repeatedly mentions consulting these volumes, indicating that the library supplied him with the theoretical background for his early work on electromagnetic fields.

Methodologically, the study combines primary source analysis (original letters of Einstein and Besso, corporate archives of Milanese electricity firms, Politecnico personnel files) with digital humanities tools. A text‑mining pipeline extracts key terms such as “electric,” “Maxwell,” “Cantoni,” and “Besso” from the letters, revealing a spike in technical discussion during 1899‑1901. Network analysis visualizes the inter‑family connections, confirming that Vittorio Cantoni and Giuseppe Jung acted as bridges linking the Swiss and Italian engineering communities.

The impact of these connections on Einstein’s scientific output is examined in detail. The author shows that data from Cantoni’s power‑grid experiments and Jung’s laboratory notes appear to have informed the quantitative examples in Einstein’s 1901 diploma thesis on molecular motion and, more directly, the numerical tables used in his 1905 paper on the electrodynamics of moving bodies (the “special relativity” paper). Moreover, Besso’s practical experience in electrical installations provided Einstein with concrete problems—such as the symmetry of circuit equations and energy‑conservation constraints—that later resurfaced in Einstein’s 1905 “Annus Mirabilis” papers.

In conclusion, the paper argues that Milan was not merely a familial stop‑over for Einstein but a crucial intellectual hub where industrial, academic, and personal networks converged. The Cantoni‑Besso‑Jung connections supplied Einstein with cutting‑edge technical literature, experimental data, and real‑world engineering challenges that shaped his early theoretical investigations. By foregrounding these Milanese influences, the study adds a new dimension to the historiography of Einstein’s early career, suggesting that his breakthrough ideas were nurtured as much by the practical world of Italian electricity as by the abstract physics taught at Zurich.