Category Scientist & Invensions

A young medical student by the name Max Talmud was an informal tutor who introduced Einstein to higher mathematics and philosophy.

Talmud often had dinner in Einstein’s home and shared several books with him. Einstein loved reading these books and also discussed philosophical matters with Talmud. Quickly grasping the contents of the books, Einstein was soon baffling Talmud with his questions.

Once when Talmud gave 12-year-old Einstein a geometry textbook, he finished the entire book in a surprisingly short time. His mathematical genius was such that Talmud soon found himself unable to catch up.

A turning point in Einstein’s life was when he was 16. Talmud had introduced him to a children’s science series by Aaron Bernstein titled Naturwis-senschaftliche Volksbucher (popular Books on Physical Science). In the series, the author imagined himself travelling along-side the electricity coursing through a telegraph wire.

The question this image raised in young Einstein’s mind dominated his thoughts for the next decade. What would a beam of light look like if someone ran alongside it? A light beam should appear stationary if it was a wave. But even as a child he realized that stationary light waves haven’t been seen. This remained a paradox he tried to solve.

Einstein studied in a strict Catholic primary school where the students wore military type uniforms. Einstein was generally bored by the classes. Though he excelled in certain subjects like mathematics and Latin, his performance in other subjects was poor. Einstein’s teachers considered him to be a dreamy, absentminded child.

However, Jakob Einstein, Albert’s uncle discovered the boy’s latent brilliance when Albert was able to give his own mathematical proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. (Pythagoras was a Greek mathematician who lived in the 6th century BC.)

Albert’s parents encouraged him to ask questions and gave him many books to read. Eager to learn more, Albert taught himself advanced maths.

In 1894, Einstein began attending a secondary school at Munich’s Luitpold Gymnasium. The new school turned out to be stricter than his primary school.        

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Einstein’s mother bought a violin and hired a music teacher to give him lessons when he was six years old. Though he was not too eager to attend classes in the beginning, he soon came to love playing the violin. Einstein and his mother would play duets with her accompanying him on the piano.

His love for music stayed with him throughout his life. Einstein was often seen carrying his violin case during his time at Princeton. He would solve complex mathematical problems in his head while improvising on the violin he nicknamed Lina. Playing his violin alone or with others gave Einstein great pleasure and relaxation. He resolved many problems in his personal life and science by taking refuge in music.

Einstein was born on March 14, 1879, in Ulm, Wurttemberg, Germany. Though his parents were Jews they were not religious. This could have been a matter of survival in Germany at the time. Until a few years before Einstein’s birth, Jews were not even considered German citizens. Albert’s father Hermann Einstein had been a salesman and an engineer. Hermann and his brother started Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, an electrical equipment manufacturing company based in Munich. Meanwhile, Einstein’s mother Pauline Koch ran the household.

The Einstein family shifted to Munich when Albert was a year old. Little Albert started speaking only at the age of three. He had a sister, Maja, two years younger to him. Maja recollects Albert’s intense concentration while building multiple-storied card houses.

Einstein mentions two events as having immense impact on his early years. The first was at the age of 5, when he saw a compass. He was puzzled to hear that some invisible forces could make the compass needle always point north. This marked the beginning of his lifelong fascination with invisible forces. The second event was his introduction to geometry at the age of 12.