Albert Einstein :: biographies bio

Albert was born in 1879 on March 14 to Hermann and Pauline Einstein. Hermann ran an electrical technology business which was often on the verge of bankruptcy. Hermann's parents were Abraham and Hindel. Albert's parents moved around Europe several times while Albert was still living at home. He was born in Ulm, Germany. Two years Albert became a big brother when his sister Maja (Maria) was born, at this time his family was living at Munich. At the age of nine Albert entered a school in Munich called Luitpold. In school Albert got fairly good grades in his subject while he excelled in mathematics. However, he hated the school because success was based on memorization and obedience rather than how much a child knew. Then when Albert went home he studied mathematics, physics, and philosophy all on his own. Then later his teacher asked him to leave because Albert was causing the other students to loose respect for the teacher. At fifteen Albert took the teacher's advice and left mid term to be with his parents and sister in Italy. He renounced his German citizenship after enrolling in a cantonal school in Aarau, Switzerland. After he graduated from Aarau he entered the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, received his diploma and became a Swiss citizen. However, Albert had a difficult time holding down a full time job; he held many different part time jobs and it wasn't until he was offered a job with the Swiss Patent Office in Bern did he finally receive a regular salary. During one of his part time teaching positions his eye was caught by a young Serbian woman, Meleva Maric. She was the only woman in his physics class; yet Albert would not talk of marriage, even after she bore his daughter and gave it up for adoption. Once Albert was hired full time with the Swiss Patent Office in Bern he had enough money to begin thinking about marriage and he and Meleva were married in 1903. With this new job Albert had the time to write his thoughts down and to. Meleva gave birth to two sons Hans Albert in 1904 and Eduard in 1910. Hans would grow up and become a successful hydraulic engineer, while Eduard grew up being sick most of his life. In 1914 the German government offered Albert a position at the University of Berlin as well as a membership to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.