Albert Einstein, 1879-1955

Albert Einstein was born on 14 March 1879, at Ulm in Wurttemberg, Germany, the son of Hermann Einstein and his wife, Pauline, née Koch. Hermann Einstein was in partnership with his brother, an engineer, in a small factory producing electrical supplies. From an autobiographical fragment* we learn that the Einstein parents were Jewish, but non-observant of their religion; at a very early age the boy’s religious nature became dissatisfied with the spiritual emptiness of his surroundings: seeking for something deeper, he attached himself ardently for a time to the faith of his fathers; but further reading led him to the opinion that fact cannot easily be separated from legend in the framework of Jewish history, and he ceased to accept Judaism as a transcendental religion, while retaining its humanitarian principles. In later life he was a keen Zionist and a Governor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Meanwhile, his education was somewhat irregular, owing chiefly to changes in domicile brought about by unsatisfactory circumstances in his father’s business. Between the ages of 10 and 15 he attended the Luitpold Gymnasium at Munich. Later for a year he became a pupil of the cantonal school at Aarau in Switzerland, and at the age of 17 he entered the Technische Hochschule at Zurich, each successive move involving some discontinuity in the curriculum.