CHILDHOOD
- Albert Einstein was born in ULm, in the kingdom of Wiireetmberg in the German Empire, on 14 March 1879.
- His parents were Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer, and Pauline koch. In 1880, the family moved to Munich, where Einstein's father and his uncle Jakob founded Elektretechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, a company that manufactured electrical equipment on direct current.
- Albert attended a Catholic elementary school in Munich, from the age of 5, for three years. At the age of 8, he was transferred to the Luitpold Gymnasium where he received advanced primary and secondary school education until he left the German Empire seven years later.
- In 1894, Hermann and Jakob's company faced loss which the sale of the Munich factory. In search of business, the Einstein family moved to Italy, first to Milan and few months later to Pavia.
- When the family moved to Pavia, Einstein, then 15, stayed in Munich to finish his studies at the Luitpold Gymnasium. His father intended for him to pursue electrical engineering, but Einstein clashed with authorities and resented the school's regimen and teaching method.
- At the end of December 1894, he traveled to Italy to join his family in Pavia, convincing the school to let him go by using a doctor's note.
- Einstein always excelled at math and physics from a young age, reaching a mathematical level years ahead of his peers. The twelve year old Einstein taught himself algebra and Euclidean geometry over a single summer.
- Einstein also Independently discovered his own original proof of the Pythagorean theorem at age 12
- His passion for geometry and algebra led the water twelve year old to become convinced that nature could be understood as a "Mathematical structure".
- Einstein started teaching himself calculus at 12, and as a 14 year old he says he had "mastered integral and differential calculus". At age 13, Kant became his favorite philosopher.
- In 1895, at the age of 16, Einstein took the entrance examination for the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zurich. He failed to reach the required standard in the general part of the examination, but obtained exceptional grades in physics and mathematics.
- On the advice of the principal of the Polytechnic, he attended the Argovian cntonal school in Aarau, Switzerland, in 1895 and 1896 to complete his secondary schooling.
- While lodging with family of professor Jost Winterler, he fell in love with Winteler's daughter, Marie.
BEGINNING
- Albert's sister Maja later married Winteler's son Paul. In January 1896, with his father's approval, In September 1896, he passed the Swiss Matura with mostly good grade, including a top grade of 6 in physics and mathematical subjects.
- At 17, he enrolled in the four-year mathematical and physics teaching diploma program at the Zirich Polytechinc.
- EINSTEIN'S FUTURE WIFE, A 20 YEAR OLD SERBIAL WOMAN MILEVA MARIC, also enrolled at the Polytechnic that year. She was the only woman among the six students in the mathematical and physics section of the teaching diploma course.
- Over the next few years, Einstein and Maric's friendship developed into romance, and they read books together on extra-curricular physics in which Einstein was taking an increasing interest. In 1900, Einstein passed the exams in Math and Physics and was awarded the Federal Polytechnic teaching diploma.
MILEVA MARIC
- Maric returned to Switzerland without the child, whose real name and fate are unknown. The contents of Einstein's letter in September 1903 suggest that the girl was either given up for adoption or died of scarlet fever in infancy.
- Einstein and Maric married in January 1903. In may 1904, their son Hans Albert Einstein was born in Bern, Switzerland. Their son Eduard was born in Zurich in July 1910
- The couple moved to Berlin in April 1914, but Maric returned to Zurich with their sons after learning that Einstein's chief romantic attraction was the first and second cousin Elsa.
- They divorced on 14 Feburary 1919, having lived apart for five years.
- Eduard had a breakdown at about age 20 and was diagnosed with schizophernia. His mother cared for him and he was also committed to asylums for several periods, finally being committed permanently after her death.
- In letters revealed in 2015, Einstein wrote to his early love Marie Winteler about his marriage and his strong feeling for her.
- Einstein married Elsa Lowenthal in 1919, after having a relationship with her since 1912. She was a first cousin maternally and a second cousin patently. They emigrated to the United States in 1933, She died in December 1936.
STRUGGLE YEARS
- After graduating in 1900, Einstein spent almost two frustrating years searching for a teaching post. He acquired Swiss citizenship in February 1901, but was not conscripted for medical reasons.
- Finally secured a job in Bern at the Federal Office for Intellectual Property, the patent office, as a clerk.
- In 1903, his position at the Swiss Patent Office became permanent, with a few friends he had met in Bern, Einstein started a small discussion group in 1902, self-mockingly named "The Olympia Academy", which met regularly to discuss science and philosophy.
