April 16, 2026

21 min read

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Elizabeth Roboz Einstein was the determined genius behind a multiple sclerosis breakthrough

A Hungarian refugee who came to the U.S. with nothing but a diploma made a breakthrough discovery in the burgeoning field of neurochemistry

By Marcy Thompson & The Lost Women of Science Initiative

Courtesy of Smithsonian Institution Archives (image); Lily Whear (composite)

Elizabeth Roboz Einstein’s life was shaped by the forces of history. She studied organic chemistry at the University of Vienna in the 1920s and then left her home country of Hungary during World War II, before German troops invaded during World War II —practically a miracle for a single, Jewish woman. In the U.S. she blazed a trail in the brand new field of neurochemistry; her seminal research into multiple sclerosis (MS) unlocked key findings that would make effective medical treatments for MS possible.

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TRANSCRIPT

Marcy Thompson: It's May 15, 1940.

A 36 year-old Hungarian Jewish woman boards the Conte di Savoia, an Italian steamliner.

She's a long way from home. She is alone. She has said goodbye to her mother and siblings in Hungary and made her way here, to Genoa, to embark on a journey to New York City.

The Conte Di Savoia was built as a luxury cruise ship. But on this voyage, its passengers are not luxuriating. They're evacuating.

World War two is raging in Europe. The Netherlands, Belgium, and France have fallen to Hitler. Germany's domination of Western Europe is all but complete. German troops now push east towards Central Europe––the place our passenger, Elizabeth Roboz, calls home.

The Conti de Savoia is a lifeline for everyone on board––351 US citizens and 600 Central European refugees all escaping the escalating war. The boat sails from Genoa in complete darkness, a precaution against air raids. It somehow manages to pass through Gibraltar, and west into the Atlantic, without detainment and search.

Elizabeth Roboz knows she is one of the lucky ones. She's been granted a preferential visa because of her qualifications as an agricultural specialist, but her fate is far from certain … She, along with everyone else on this dark boat, must grapple with the fear of not knowing what lies ahead, and the anguish of not knowing what will happen to the families they've left behind.

The ship docks in New York City on May 23rd. Elizabeth could not have known that in less than two weeks, Italy would enter the war––that the Conte di Savoia would never bring another refugee to the U.S., and would in fact be sunk by the Germans. And it would be years before she'd know the fate of her family in Hungary, and learn what they endured when Hitler did, in fact, march into Budapest.

All she can do as she disembarks into this strange new country is trust in what she's been taught, rely on her fierce intelligence and ambition, and move forward.

This is Lost Women of Science. I’m your host, Marcy Thompson. Today, we tell the story of what happened to Elizabeth Roboz––who would later in her life become Elizabeth Roboz Einstein. Yes, that Einstein. Over the course of her life she'd help pioneer a brand new field ––neurochemistry. And, she’d solve some of the most difficult scientific mysteries of her time: the cause of diseases affecting the brain and how we treat them.

Dr. Stephen Hauser: To me and to many of my colleagues in the neurosciences, understanding and treating diseases of the brain is the most important part of medicine. It's what makes us human, unique, and important.

Marcy Thompson: and she'd undertake groundbreaking research that led to a deeper understanding of multiple sclerosis.

But was her success a result of uncanny luck? Or the dogged determination to move forward under any circumstances? Either way, there are untold numbers of people who probably don't realize how fortunate they are that Elizabeth Roboz got on that boat that day in 1940.

Otto Roboz: I was born in Transylvania, which was at that time, a part of Hungary. And my father was their chief rabbi and…

Interviewer: chief Rabbi of a town.

Otto Roboz: Of the town. Yes.

Marcy Thompson: This is Elizabeth Roboz Einstein's younger brother, Otto Roboz, in a 1989 interview conducted by the Raoul Wallenberg Project, and is now part of the American Holocaust Memorial Museum archive. Otto Roboz was about 82 years old at the time of this conversation.

Interviewer: Which town was that?

Otto Roboz: They called in Hungarian “Szászváros.”

Marcy Thompson: Elizabeth and Otto had four brothers and sisters