Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize in 1921 for his work in theoretical physics. Yet, his first wife’s (Mileva Maric) legacy has been mostly lost to time, despite being the co-author of many of Einstein’s most important academic writings, including the theory of relativity.

Her erasure from the history books of STEM’s greatest minds left us with a homogenized view of the past that continues to discourage young women from pursuing careers in these fields.

The lack of role models for these girls continues to be an issue, in disregard of their struggle to be part of the science world.

#NobelForMileva is a global movement to redefine Einstein’s iconic image into more than a prize: a symbol of fight for equal rights.

How?

Inviting women from all over the world to post selfies of themselves sticking out their tongues, a nod to the gesture that made Einstein a pop culture icon.

But instead of the irreverence and humor that defined Einstein’s legacy for a century, now #NobelForMileva is asking people to use that same gesture as a protest, and a claim for justice.

Taking advantage of Albert Einstein’s Nobel Prize 100th anniversary, we launched a campaign to engage women to pressure the Nobel Foundation to recognize Mileva’s importance as a brilliant mathematician and physicist, and the co-author of her husband’s most important publications.

On the International Women’s Day, we launched a video on digital platforms showing the history of Mileva Maric and inviting women to take selfies sticking their tongues out and posting them on social media, giving new meaning to the gesture that transformed Albert Einstein into a pop icon and representation of a genius.

Using influencers to boost the message, our strategy was to reach the news worldwide. And we did it: the main media both on TV and the Internet talked a lot about the campaign, showing Mileva’s story to inspire more girls and women around the world.

First, we launched a video showing the history of Mileva and inviting women to take part on the movement, posting pictures with their tongues out on social media.

The campaign started to reach other fronts, including paintings, huge exhibitions, graffities and murals made by artists from around the world.

The activations included bust statues of Mileva 3D printed in world-class universities.

Even the first Mileva’s tattoo with her tongue out was crafted to help make her a pop icon synonymous with genius.

The movement also relies on “Milevas of the Future”, a beautiful animated short film, with the story of three girls who are passionate for science and find in Mileva Maric the necessary encouragement to follow their dreams.

Besides all that, a lot of users-generated content keep coming to life, reproducing Mileva’ image in different ways to turn her into an icon and a role model for young girls.

The campaign was promptly embraced worldwide, and thanks to the mass media coverage and user’s engagement, the movement spread in more than 35 countries, resulting in:

- 3,1 million USD in earned media

- 28 million unique viewers

- More than 150 million impacts

- 1.150% increase in searches for “Mileva”

The campaign was highlighted on dozens of languages on TVs, newspapers, news and media portals.

TV Globo, the main TV broadcast in Brazil (second largest in the world), talked about the campaign on the prime time for almost 4 minutes.

The same happened on several main media channels around the world, such as in the number 1 Serbian TV channel (Mileva’s birthplace).

So far, we’ve achieved the campaign’s main goals: besides inspiring thousands of girls and women around the world by bringing Mileva’s story to light, we also helped to recognize her importance in science and turn her into an icon of genius too.

And now, 100 years later, we are giving the Nobel Foundation the opportunity to fix this injustice for good, by finally giving her what is hers by right.