Early Life
Albert Einstein: quirky, curious, out-of-the-box thinking is what led this ordinary man with extraordinary abilities to be considered one of the most influential scientists of the 20th century. His story is a story filled with questioning the unquestionable and going against the mainstream--something that led to theories that changed the way we view our universe.
Einstein was born on March 14, 1879 in Württemberg, Germany. He was Jewish, which would later be an important factor in his life. Growing up, Albert rarely saw his father, Hermann Einstein, and spent most of his time with his mother, Pauline Einstein. Along with his parents, Einstein had a younger sister named Maja.
At the age of ten, Albert began going to Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich, Germany. The school was the wrong learning environment for Albert. It was a very dull and formal education—something Albert hated. There is an existing photo that shows his class in his first year at Luitpold. In the photo, one can see Albert's face being relaxed, with a little smirk on his face, something that differentiated him from the rest of the students pictured.
Later in the mid-1890s, Albert's family relocated to Milan, Italy. However, Albert was forced to remain in a boarding house in Munich to finish off his education at the Luitpold Gymnasium. Of course, this did not last, due to Albert's distaste for the school. Without telling his parents, Albert boarded a train and left for Milan, at just the age of fifteen. His parents were disappointed, but Albert refused to return. Because of his unusually high math and physics scores, he eventually was admitted into the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zurich, Switzerland.
Albert's "Miracle Year" was in 1905. He had been working on his research for his theories for the past couple of years, and by 1905, had four papers published in a popular physics journal. One of those papers was his widely known special theory of relativity. This was also the year that Albert formed his famous equation, E=mc2. This equation would later lead to the creation of the atomic bomb. There is a letter from Albert to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt explaining the possibility of the creation of the atomic bomb in efforts to win World War II, written by Albert himself.
Above Image: Albert and his sister, Maja, are shown in a childhood portrait. Source: "20 Things You Need to Know About Einstein" by Walter Isaacson via content.time.com
Albert Einstein attended the Luitpold Gymnasium for school 1889. His class photo is shown above, and you can see Einstein at age 10 with a smile on his face.
Source: "Einstein at 10: School Photograph" by JF Ptak via http://longstreet.typepad.com |
Albert Einstein wrote a letter to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt regarding the creation of the atomic bomb on August 2, 1939.
Source: fdrlibrary.marist.edu/archives/pdfs/docsworldwar.pdf |
Einstein is photographed in 1905, his ‘Miracle Year’.
Source: "6 Things You Might Not Know About Einstein's General Theory of Relativity" by Sarah Pruitt via history.com |
This is a map showing Albert Einstein's birthplace, Württemberg, Germany.