"Education is what remains after one has forgotten everything he learned in school." Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, to a Jewish family living in Ulm, Germany. He was the only son of Hermann Einstein and his wife, Pauline (nee Koch). Hermann worked as a tradesman and small business owner.
In 1880, the family moved to Munich, where Albert's father and uncle founded a small electrical equipment plant. In 1881, a daughter Maria, called Maja, was born to the family.
The Einsteins did not observe Jewish religious practices and Albert attended a Catholic elementary school, from 1884 to 1889. Although he suffered from speech difficulties in early childhood, he was a top student in the elementary grades.
When he was five, Albert's father showed him a pocket compass. The child realized that there must be something in the seemingly empty space that was moving the compass needle. Einstein later stated that this experience made "a deep and lasting impression" on him. As he grew older, Albert built models and mechanical devices for fun. He also began to show a talent for mathematics.
At age six, his mother insisted that Albert take violin lessons, but he disliked them and eventually quit. Later in life, however, he enjoying playing for relaxation, and he took great pleasure in Mozart's violin sonatas.
When he was ten, Einstein entered the Luitpold Gymnasium. His father intended that he become an electrical engineer, but Albert disliked the rigorous regimen and clashed with school authorities. He later wrote that the spirit of learning and creative thought were lost in strict rote learning.
At age twelve, he learned Euclidian Geometry from a textbook a friend had loaned him. Some after, he began to investigate Calculus.
In 1894, Hermann Einstein's business failed. The family moved to Pavia, Italy. Albert was left behind in Munich to finish school, but he only lasted at the Gymnasium six more months.
Einstein's biographer relates that the young man devised a scheme whereby he was given a medical certificate to leave, on the basis of a potential nervous breakdown. He then convinced a mathematics teacher to certify that he was adequately prepared to begin his college studies without a high school diploma.
In 1895, Einstein tried the entrance exam for Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and failed. He subsequently enrolled in a Swiss high school at Aarau which he found to be much more to his liking than the Gymnasium in Munich. Here, he made rapid progress.
He took the entrance exam for the Institute of Technology again the following year and passed. Once accepted. He found the school held little appeal for him. He rarely attended classes and hated studying for exams. However, he did graduate with a secondary teaching degree in 1900, at the age of twenty-one.
"The only thing that interferes with my learning is my education." Albert Einstein
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