Einstein didn't count well. Was Albert Einstein a loser? How Einstein taught mathematics and physics
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The biography of Albert Einstein, written by Walter Isaacsen, covers not only the intellectual achievements of the great physicist, but also what is indirectly related to this: fame, his anti-war activities, difficulties in his marriage. But the most interesting information concerns the part that talks about how Einstein.
How smart was Einstein?
One of the most common stories about Einstein is that he was a “C” in mathematics/physics and did not graduate from mathematics school. This is one of those stories that become legends, whether it's true or not.
But she is not truthful. Einstein knew mathematics very well from an early age. He admits it himself: “I’ve never failed math. Before I was fifteen, I mastered differential and integral calculus.” But he was not considered a genius then. By the way, you can easily find a photo of his diploma by using a search engine and typing “Albert Einstein’s matriculation certificate 1896.”
How did Einstein teach mathematics and physics?
Considering Einstein's contributions to physics, this is a very worthwhile question. Here are some of his methods that Isaacsen talks about in the book.
Learning comes from solving difficult problems, not from going to school
The famous scientist had an aversion to cramming and attending classes. As he himself stated: “I played a lot and studied the masters of theoretical physics at home.”
When he was 12 years old, Einstein already had "a penchant for solving complex problems in arithmetic" and his parents bought him an advanced math textbook that he could study during the summer.
He studied physics rather than obediently attending classes, as most did. He played with ideas and equations on his own. His main principle even at that time was “do, don’t listen.”
When you can prove something, you really know it.
How do you know you really understand something? Einstein's method was to try to prove any statement himself. It all started at an early age when his uncle Jacob challenged him to prove the Pythagorean Theorem.
Einstein recalled: “After great effort I succeeded in ‘proving’ this theorem on the basis of the similarity of triangles.”
Isaacsen explains that Einstein took up new theories, trying to prove them himself. This approach to the study of physics, which came naturally to Einstein, was driven by an intense curiosity about how things worked and his belief that “nature can be understood through a relatively simple mathematical structure.”
Already here it becomes noticeable that the famous scientist had incredible curiosity and intuition. Perhaps even more so than intellect.
Intuition matters more than equations
Yes, he can be called more of an intuitive physicist. He was influenced by the books of Aaron Burstein, who encouraged an intuitive approach to physics. They were replete with fictitious images such as “imaginary travel through space” or “the speed of light.”
How did Einstein develop intuition? His own thoughts on this matter were that intuition is nothing more than the result of early intellectual experience. His early habit of proving theorems and solving complex problems supported his ability to create abstract visual pictures in his mind.
Thinking requires quiet space and deep concentration
Einstein had incredible ability. His son writes: “Even the loudest cry of the baby did not bother the father. He was able to continue working despite the noise level around him.”
This is what the physicist himself says about his work at the Bern patent office: “I could complete all the work in 2-3 hours. I spent the rest of the time developing my ideas.” The incredible concentration he developed during this time helped him cope with the general theory of relativity, which culminated in “a grueling four-week madness.” However, this had a bad effect on his health.
Yet his ability to focus and love of solitude allowed him to achieve heights.
Understanding ideas comes from thought experiments
Einstein was a fan of thought experiments. They did not require any expense and were completed very quickly. His most famous experiments were Einstein's paradox and the twin paradox.
All the thought experiments were built on an intuitive understanding of physics, which in turn was based on his experience with theories and problems.
Insights come during friendly walks
Although solitude and concentration were important components of how Einstein studied and practiced physics, it was often conversations and walks with people that led to his insights.
The most famous example was his walk with longtime friend Michele Besso. During his work on special relativity, he was walking with a friend, trying to explain the theory to him. Frustrated, he announced that he was giving up. But suddenly it dawned on him - the next day he told Besso that he had completely solved the problem.
Talking ideas out loud and sharing them with others can often lead to new ideas.
Be a rebel
Einstein was never a conformist. His rebellious spirit damaged his early academic career, but also contributed to his greatest discoveries.
He questioned all the rules and traditions accepted in physics. He did not like the German education system, which, according to him, was intolerant of different opinions. When you start studying Einstein's biography, you will probably come to one important thought: you may not be able to match his intellect, but anyone can develop Einstein's tenacity and curiosity.
We wish you good luck!
German Wikipedia states that this myth is associated with the mistake of Einstein's first biographer. Both Germany and Switzerland have adopted a six-point rating scale. But in Germany the best score is 1, the worst is 6. And in Switzerland it’s the other way around: the best is 6, the worst is 1. And so, they say the biographer mixed up the grades in the Swiss certificate with German ones.
True, this theory does not explain how Einstein, according to the biographer, was able to enter the Polytechnic Institute with a “6” in all mathematical disciplines and physics, as well as a “5” in chemistry and a number of other subjects.
Here is a hypothesis about the origin of the myth:
Das Gerücht, dass Einstein allgemein ein schlechter Schüler war, ist falsch: Es geht auf Einsteins ersten Biografen zurück, der das Benotungssystem der Schweiz mit dem deutschen verwechselte.
Objectively, Einstein was not a bad student(in Russian - “a bad student” or “a three student”), just as he was not a “very excellent student” or even a “good student.” Even as a child, he was very self-willed, did not particularly want to study subjects that did not interest him (and those that interested him, on the contrary, studied beyond the curriculum; at the same time he lost his religiosity at the age of 12) - he received appropriate grades (but at least satisfactory), and was not afraid to express his opinion and argue with authorities (teachers, the director of the gymnasium or his own father: at least on the issue of higher education, he went to the polytechnic, where he himself wanted, and not where his father wanted to send him).
Einstein did not graduate from the German gymnasium not because of poor academic performance (he did not have unsatisfactory grades), but because of a conflict with the director and teachers. They believed that Einstein behaved too badly and, moreover, negatively influenced others. In a word, he does not respect authorities and does not fit into the system. However, Einstein was not expelled, but simply left on his own. At the age of 15, by the way. Moreover, the parents already lived in another country (Italy), and after a couple of years they were threatened with conscription for service in the Kaiser’s army (it was enough to live to 17 years in Germany to become liable for military service), which Einstein did not want at all. By the way, he soon also renounced German citizenship and for a number of years had no citizenship at all.
At the age of 16 - in Italy - he wrote his first scientific article(“On the study of the state of the ether in a magnetic field”), which he sent to his uncle in Belgium for review. (What scientific article did you write when you were 16? I, for example, didn’t have one.) The work was not sent to scientific journals and was not published.
Then the family moved to Switzerland and Einstein tried to enter the polytechnic. Since he did not have an education that would give him the right to enter a university (in Germany this is called Abitur, in Switzerland - Matura), he had to take entrance exams (by the way, if he remained in the gymnasium, he would still continue to study and would not enter any university at the age of 16 would). I failed either the French exam (as the German Wikipedia claims), or also botany (as the Russian one claims), or - to the heap - also zoology (as stated in the previous answer). In any case, he passed everything else, although he did not complete his studies at the gymnasium, and, it seems, he did not take private lessons (except for learning to play the violin).
On the recommendation of one of the Polytechnic professors, Einstein accepted to complete their studies at a Swiss school, where he received his certificate for passing exams for this very Matura (French - 3, that is, in a five-point system - a three with a minus). Then entered the polytechnic, where he continued in his former spirit: he skipped lectures on subjects that did not interest him (he prepared for exams using the notes of his fellow students). This time it was mathematics that fell into disgrace, as being too theoretical and far from the problems of physics. Subsequently, while working on general relativity, Einstein allegedly changed his mind on this matter and expressed regret about absenteeism from mathematical lectures during his studies at the Polytechnic.
Let's expose! Was Einstein a loser? July 22nd, 2013
Many poor students console themselves with the thought that Albert Einstein, the great physicist, author of the famous theory of relativity, Nobel laureate, was also a poor student in childhood.
Is this true?
Facts speak better than words. So, here is Albert Einstein’s matriculation certificate, which he received at the cantonal school of Aarau (Switzerland) in September 1896 at the age of 17 (grades were given on a six-point system).
Translation:
German language – 5
French - 3
English language - -
Italian language – 5
History - 6
Geography - 4
Algebra - 6
Geometry (planimetry, trigonometry, stereometry and analytical geometry) – 6
Descriptive geometry – 6
Physics - 6
Chemistry - 5
Natural history - 5
Artistic drawing – 4
Technical drawing - 4
As you can see, Einstein shone in the exact sciences, and had decent grades in other subjects. He received the highest score in history, algebra, trigonometry, geometry and physics. In other subjects, grades are a little more modest. The lowest grade - 3 - was received by him in French. However, during a visit to Jerusalem in 1923, he free gave a lecture in French. Einstein was not certified only in English, and this circumstance made his life very difficult when he moved to the United States in 1933.
Where then did the myth about the poor performance of a genius come from?
The thing is that Einstein studied most of the time in Germany, but received a school certificate in Switzerland, where the grading system was the opposite of the German one: in Germany the highest score was one, just below two, and so on, and Swiss teachers used a straight six-point system.
At school (Luitpold Gymnasium in Munich), Albert Einstein was indeed not one of the first students (although he never had problems with mathematics, Latin and physics). The reason for this was the free-thinking of the future Nobel laureate. He did not tolerate the authoritarian attitude of teachers towards students, or the atmosphere in the gymnasium, which was close to a military one. “Teachers in the lower grades behave like sergeants, and in the upper grades like lieutenants,” Einstein later recalled. “I despise those who gladly march in formation to a music lesson - they were given a brain by mistake. A spinal one would be enough!” - he wrote. The student did not hide his dislike of the teachers, and it was mutual. One day one of the teachers confessed to him: “How great it will be when you finally leave the gymnasium.” When Einstein objected that he had done nothing wrong, he explained: “Your presence and indifferent attitude towards everything we teach in class undermines the reputation of the entire school.”
In addition, in the sixth grade of the gymnasium, Albert began to have serious problems with some of the teachers due to the fact that he “constantly demanded evidence of religion and chose free-thinking.” Such skepticism was very rare in those days and was not encouraged, especially in an educational institution of this type.
Passport
Thus, Einstein was a “bad” student only in the sense of behavior in a militarized school system that was reduced to rote learning (“I was ready to endure any punishment, just so as not to learn incoherent nonsense from memory”). But this is just another proof of the extraordinary personality of the future Nobel laureate. Meanwhile, he studied a lot on his own and was fond of reading. Of his childhood impressions, Einstein later recalled as the most powerful: Euclid’s “Elements” and I. Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason.” In addition, on his mother’s initiative, he began playing the violin at the age of six. Einstein's passion for music continued throughout his life. Already in the USA in Princeton, in 1934 Einstein gave a charity concert in favor of scientists and cultural figures who emigrated from Nazi Germany, where he performed works by Mozart on the violin.
A significant role in the creation of the myth of Einstein the poor student was also played by the mistake of one of the early biographers of the genius, who confused the Swiss system of assessing knowledge with the German one.
Thus, dear poor students, there is no need to justify your laziness and lack of diligence with tales that the author of the most incomprehensible theory in the world did not study well - this is pure fiction. To get closer to Einstein, first try to get straight A's in mathematics or understand something in the works of Immanuel Kant.
By the way…
Here we should dispel another myth from the same series: that Einstein failed his final exam and passed it only the second time. To do this, we will tell you in more detail about the history of obtaining the certificate, a copy of which is given on this page.
In fact, Einstein left the gymnasium without receiving a certificate, for the reasons disclosed above.
The young man’s father insisted that he get all this “philosophical nonsense” out of his head and think about how to get an intelligent profession; he was leaning towards the engineering field, since his son was so keen on mathematics and physics. I had to follow my father's advice. At the family council, it was decided to send Albert to a technical school. Moreover, it was necessary to choose one where teaching was conducted in his native German language. Germany was excluded - Albert intended to renounce German citizenship so as not to serve in the army, where he was drafted at the age of 17. Outside Germany, the Zurich Polytechnic Institute (Polytechnic) was the most famous, and Einstein went there in the fall of 1895, although he was 2 years short of the required 18 years to enroll.
If you believe his own memories, he did not like the specialty that his parents had chosen for him to such an extent that he practically did not prepare for those subjects that did not interest him - botany, zoology, foreign languages. Accordingly, he passed them almost worse than all the applicants, although he distinguished himself in exams in mathematics and physics. The lack of a high school certificate also played a role: he was not accepted. However, the director of the institute, amazed by the young man’s mathematical erudition, gave him good advice: finish one of the Swiss high schools to obtain a certificate and a year later try again to enter the institute. He recommended the cantonal school in the small town of Aarau as the most advanced both in teaching methods and in the composition of teachers. Albert did just that, and in September of the following year he successfully passed all the final exams, and already in October 1896 he was admitted to the Polytechnic to the Faculty of Pedagogy without exams.
Well, “by the way,” the physicist received the Nobel Prize not for the theory of relativity, as many believe, but for the development of the quantum theory of the photoelectric effect.
Well, I’ll refrain from one more revelation or clarification.
If you have never seen this photo, it is at least strange. But few people know how the famous photo appeared. And it all happened on March 14, 1951, when Albert Einstein celebrated his 72nd birthday. He left Princeton University with Dr. Eidelot and his wife. The three of them got into the car after celebrating the birthday of a physics genius at the university. They were constantly harassed by photographers and reporters. But one of them stood aside, waiting for the main crowd of journalists to disperse. Having waited, Arthur Szasz approached those sitting in the car and asked the professor to smile for a photo card on his birthday.
In response, Einstein showed his tongue!
Here's what the full version of the famous photo looks like. This frame has become a legendary symbol of the originality of a man of genius.
In the editorial office where Artur Sas worked, they could not decide for a long time whether it was worth publishing such an unusual shot, and the shot was published anyway. Seeing himself with his tongue hanging out on the front page of a newspaper, Albert Einstein fell in love with the photo. He immediately cut the photo to the sizes we were used to and made copies, which he sent to his friends as postcards. A year before his death, he wrote to one of his friends that
Albert Einstein born on March 14, 1879 in the southern German city of Ulm, into a poor Jewish family.
The scientist lived in Germany and the USA, however, he always denied that he knew English. The scientist was a public figure and humanist, an honorary doctor of about 20 leading universities in the world, a member of many academies of sciences, including a foreign honorary member of the USSR Academy of Sciences (1926).
Einstein at 14 years old. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The discoveries of the great genius in science gave enormous growth to mathematics and physics in the 20th century. Einstein is the author of about 300 works on physics, as well as the author of more than 150 books in the field of other sciences. During his life he developed many significant physical theories.
AiF.ru has collected 15 interesting facts from the life of the world famous scientist.
Einstein was a bad student
As a child, the famous scientist was not a child prodigy. Many doubted his usefulness, and his mother even suspected her child’s congenital deformity (Einstein had a big head).
Einstein never received a high school diploma, but assured his parents that he himself could prepare to enter the Higher Technical School (Polytechnic) in Zurich. But he failed the first time.
After all, having entered the Polytechnic, student Einstein very often skipped lectures, reading magazines with the latest scientific theories in cafes.
After receiving his diploma, he got a job as an expert in a patent office. Due to the fact that assessing the technical characteristics of the young specialist most often took about 10 minutes, he spent a lot of time developing his own theories.
Didn't like sports
Apart from swimming (“the sport that requires the least energy,” as Einstein himself said), he avoided any vigorous activity. A scientist once said: “When I come home from work, I don’t want to do anything other than work with my mind.”
Solved complex problems by playing the violin
Einstein had a special way of thinking. He singled out those ideas that were inelegant or disharmonious, based mainly on aesthetic criteria. Then he proclaimed a general principle by which harmony would be restored. And he made predictions about how physical objects would behave. This approach produced stunning results.
Einstein's favorite instrument. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
The scientist trained himself to rise above a problem, see it from an unexpected angle and find an extraordinary way out. When he found himself at a dead end, playing the violin, a solution suddenly popped into his head.
Einstein "stopped wearing socks"
They say that Einstein was not very tidy and once spoke about this as follows: “When I was young, I learned that the big toe always ends in a hole in the sock. So I stopped wearing socks."
Loved to smoke a pipe
Einstein was a life member of the Montreal Pipe Smokers Club. He had great respect for the smoking pipe and believed that it “contributes to a calm and objective judgment of human affairs.”
Hated science fiction
To avoid distorting pure science and giving people a false illusion of scientific understanding, he recommended total abstinence from any type of science fiction. “I never think about the future, it will come soon enough,” he said.
Einstein's parents were against his first marriage
Einstein met his first wife Mileva Maric in 1896 in Zurich, where they studied together at the Polytechnic. Albert was 17 years old, Mileva was 21. She was from a Catholic Serbian family living in Hungary. Einstein's collaborator Abraham Pais, who became his biographer, wrote in a fundamental biography of his great boss, published in 1982, that both of Albert's parents were against this marriage. Only on his deathbed did Einstein's father Hermann agree to his son's marriage. But Paulina, the scientist’s mother, never accepted her daughter-in-law. “Everything in me resisted this marriage,” Pais quotes Einstein’s 1952 letter.
Einstein with his first wife Mileva Maric (c. 1905). Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
2 years before the wedding, in 1901, Einstein wrote to his beloved: “...I have lost my mind, I am dying, I am burning with love and desire. The pillow you sleep on is a hundred times happier than my heart! You come to me at night, but, unfortunately, only in a dream...”
However, after a short time, the future father of the theory of relativity and the future father of the family writes to his bride in a completely different tone: “If you want marriage, you will have to agree to my conditions, here they are:
- firstly, you will take care of my clothes and bed;
- secondly, you will bring me food three times a day to my office;
- thirdly, you will renounce all personal contacts with me, except those necessary for maintaining social decency;
- fourthly, whenever I ask you to do this, you will leave my bedroom and office;
- fifthly, without words of protest you will perform scientific calculations for me;
- sixthly, you will not expect any manifestations of feelings from me.”
Mileva accepted these humiliating conditions and became not only a faithful wife, but also a valuable assistant in her work. On May 14, 1904, their son Hans Albert is born, the only successor of the Einstein family. In 1910, a second son, Edward, was born, who suffered from dementia since childhood and ended his life in 1965 in a Zurich psychiatric hospital.
Firmly believed that he would receive the Nobel Prize
In fact, Einstein’s first marriage broke up in 1914; in 1919, during the legal divorce proceedings, the following written promise from Einstein appeared: “I promise you that when I receive the Nobel Prize, I will give you all the money. You must agree to the divorce, otherwise you will get nothing at all.”
The couple were confident that Albert would become a Nobel laureate for the theory of relativity. He actually received the Nobel Prize in 1922, although with a completely different wording (for explaining the laws of the photoelectric effect). Einstein kept his word: he gave all 32 thousand dollars (a huge amount for that time) to his ex-wife. Until the end of his days, Einstein also took care of the handicapped Edward, writing letters to him that he could not even read without outside help. While visiting his sons in Zurich, Einstein stayed with Mileva in her house. Mileva had a very hard time with the divorce, was depressed for a long time, and was treated by psychoanalysts. She died in 1948 at the age of 73. The feeling of guilt before his first wife weighed on Einstein until the end of his days.
Einstein's second wife was his sister
In February 1917, the 38-year-old author of the theory of relativity became seriously ill. Extremely intense mental work with poor nutrition in warring Germany (this was the Berlin period of life) and without proper care provoked acute liver disease. Then jaundice and a stomach ulcer were added. The initiative to care for the patient was taken by his maternal cousin and paternal second cousin. Elsa Einstein-Lowenthal. She was three years older, divorced, and had two daughters. Albert and Elsa had been friends since childhood; new circumstances contributed to their rapprochement. Kind, warm-hearted, motherly and caring, in a word, a typical burgher, Elsa loved to look after her famous brother. As soon as Einstein’s first wife, Mileva Maric, agreed to the divorce, Albert and Elsa got married, Albert adopted Elsa’s daughters and had excellent relations with them.
Einstein with his wife Elsa. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Didn't take troubles seriously
In his normal state, the scientist was unnaturally calm, almost inhibited. Of all the emotions, he preferred smug cheerfulness. I absolutely couldn’t stand it when someone around me was sad. He didn't see what he didn't want to see. Didn't take troubles seriously. He believed that jokes “dissolved” troubles. And that they can be transferred from a personal plan to a general one. For example, compare the grief from your divorce with the grief brought to the people by war. The Maxims of La Rochefoucauld helped him suppress his emotions; he constantly reread them.
Didn't like the pronoun "we"
He said “I” and did not allow anyone to say “we”. The meaning of this pronoun simply did not reach the scientist. His close friend only once saw the imperturbable Einstein in rage when his wife uttered the forbidden “we”.
Often withdrawn into himself
To be independent of conventional wisdom, Einstein often isolated himself in solitude. This was a childhood habit. He even started talking at the age of 7 because he did not want to communicate. He built cozy worlds and contrasted them with reality. The world of family, the world of like-minded people, the world of the patent office where I worked, the temple of science. “If the sewage of life licks the steps of your temple, close the door and laugh... Do not give in to anger, remain as before as a saint in the temple.” He followed this advice.
Relaxed, playing the violin and falling into a trance
The genius always tried to stay focused, even when he was babysitting his sons. He wrote and composed, answering the questions of his eldest son, rocking his youngest son on his knee.
Einstein loved to relax in his kitchen, playing Mozart melodies on his violin.
And in the second half of his life, the scientist was helped by a special trance, when his mind was not limited by anything, his body did not obey pre-established rules. I slept until they woke me up. I stayed awake until they sent me to bed. I ate until they stopped me.
Einstein burned his last work
In the last years of his life, Einstein worked on the creation of the Unified Field Theory. Its main purpose is to use one single equation to describe the interaction of three fundamental forces: electromagnetic, gravitational and nuclear. Most likely, an unexpected discovery in this area prompted Einstein to destroy his work. What kind of work were these? The answer, alas, the great physicist took with him forever.
Albert Einstein in 1947. Photo: Commons.wikimedia.org
Allowed me to examine my brain after death
Einstein believed that only a maniac obsessed with one thought could achieve significant results. He agreed to have his brain examined after his death. As a result, the scientist’s brain was removed 7 hours after the death of the outstanding physicist. And then it was stolen.
Death overtook the genius at Princeton Hospital (USA) in 1955. The autopsy was performed by a pathologist named Thomas Harvey. He extracted Einstein's brain for study, but instead of making it available to science, he took it for himself.
Risking his reputation and job, Thomas placed the brain of the greatest genius in a jar of formaldehyde and took it to his home. He was convinced that such action was a scientific duty for him. Moreover, Thomas Harvey sent pieces of Einstein’s brain for research to leading neurologists for 40 years.
The descendants of Thomas Harvey tried to return to Einstein’s daughter what was left of her father’s brain, but she refused such a “gift”. From then to this day, the remains of the brain, ironically, are in Princeton, from where it was stolen.
Scientists who examined Einstein's brain proved that the gray matter was different from normal. Scientific studies have shown that the areas of Einstein's brain responsible for speech and language are reduced, while the areas responsible for processing numerical and spatial information are enlarged. Other studies have found an increase in the number of neuroglial cells*.
*Glial cells [glial cell] (Greek: γλοιός - sticky substance, glue) - a type of cell in the nervous system. Glial cells are collectively called neuroglia or glia. They make up at least half the volume of the central nervous system. The number of glial cells is 10-50 times greater than neurons. Neurons of the central nervous system are surrounded by glial cells.
There is a fairly common myth about how Einstein studied at school. The famous physicist is regularly included in the list of geniuses who were poor students at school. However, in reality, the future Nobel Prize laureate had no problems with academic performance. Unlike, for example, his famous colleague Thomas Edison. The two marks in Einstein's certificate are a myth that continues to be actively replicated, despite the fact that in the 1980s documentary evidence of how the physicist studied was discovered. In this article we will tell you how the school life of a brilliant scientist developed.
Childhood
The way Einstein studied at school is cited by many as proof that it is not at all necessary to study diligently in order to achieve a lot in the future. Even if this is true, it would be incorrect to cite Einstein as an example in this case.
Albert was born in Ulm in 1879. At that time it was the territory of the German Empire. At the same time, his childhood was spent in Munich, where his poor parents moved shortly after the birth of their son.
The father and mother of the hero of our article were Jews, but at the age of five they sent him to a Catholic school, since it was located two steps from their home.
It is known that Albert Einstein hated almost everything that surrounded him at school, since he did not like the classical model of education. Schoolchildren in this educational institution were required to walk to the line, and if they answered incorrectly in class, they were subjected to physical punishment - they hit their hand with a ruler.
In addition, at that time anti-Semitic sentiments were growing in Germany, so Albert’s position was difficult. His peers constantly bullied and teased him because of his origin.
Luitpoldovskaya gymnasium
The hero of our article remained in Catholic school until he was nine years old - it was at this age that he entered the Luitpoldovsky gymnasium. This happened in 1888. The educational institution was very prestigious, it was famous for its high level of teaching natural sciences, mathematics, ancient languages, and had a laboratory that was modern for those times.
However, the emergence of a new school in Einstein’s life changed practically nothing in his attitude towards the very process of acquiring knowledge. He still had a negative attitude towards drumming useless information into the heads of students and rote learning, which was actively practiced at that time. Having memorized entire pages of text, students often did not understand anything that was written.
Albert also did not like teachers who avoided clarifying questions, demonstrating their illiteracy, and the barracks discipline that was used in the gymnasium.
Since childhood, Einstein was a child with an inquisitive mind. For example, when reading stories about his schooling, there is almost no mention of Albert climbing trees or kicking a ball with his peers. Instead, he understood, for example, the principles of the telephone. If necessary, he could clearly explain this to anyone. His peers considered him a big bore.
Rejection of the way education was organized did not negatively affect Einstein's experience in school. He received exceptionally high grades and was consistently ranked among the top students in his class.
Academic records
This is documented by academic records that were discovered in 1984. From this evidence it is possible to determine what Einstein's grades were in school. For example, it turns out that Albert can rightfully be called a child prodigy, since by the age of eleven he had mastered physics at the college level.
In addition, the future Nobel Prize winner was an excellent violinist. In general, Einstein's performance at school was very high in most subjects. Only French was not good for him.
Moreover, in his free time from studying, he was engaged in self-education. His parents bought him textbooks on geometry, which he studied during the summer holidays, leaving him far ahead of his peers in the curriculum.
Mentors
The uncle of the hero of our article, Jacob Einstein, who, together with Albert’s father Hermann, headed a company selling electrical equipment, composed complex algebra problems for his nephew. By that time, he was cracking the textbook assignments like nuts. But he sat on his uncle’s problems for many hours, did not leave the house until he found a solution.
Another mentor of young Albert was medical student Max Talmud, who visited the Einstein house every Thursday to study with the young genius.
Max brought Albert books, including, for example, popular science essays on natural history by Aaron Bernstein. In them, Bernstein discussed the essence of the speed of light, describing incredible situations. For example, he suggested imagining yourself on a high-speed train, with a bullet flying through the window.
It is believed that it was precisely under the influence of these essays that Einstein set himself a problem that fascinated him for the next several decades. Since childhood, he had been trying to understand what a beam of light might actually look like if he could travel with it on a vehicle at a comparable speed. Even then it seemed to him that such a ray of light could not turn out to be a wave, since in this case it would be motionless. But it would be completely impossible to imagine motionless light rays.
Holy book
At the age of twelve, Einstein called the geometry textbook that the Talmud brought him his holy book. The boy literally read this book in one gulp.
Soon he moved from mathematics with his mentor to philosophical theories. This is how Einstein became acquainted with the works of Immanuel Kant, who became his favorite thinker for the rest of his life.
Discipline problems
They say that since childhood, Albert could not stand stupid people, regardless of their social status or age. He didn't know how to hide his feelings. Because of this, not everything was ideal with the behavior of the young genius; he often had conflicts with his teachers. For example, he could be kicked out of class for sitting on the last desk and grinning when the teacher explained new material. Teachers often stated that he would not be able to achieve anything in this life.
In fact, parents continued to admire the way Albert Einstein studied at school. He continued to make progress. But his father was plagued by failure. In 1894, his company went bankrupt and the family moved to Milan.
Albert needed to graduate from an educational institution in Munich, so he stayed in the dormitory. There is a misconception that Einstein was kicked out of school. In fact, he himself abandoned her, because he could not bear the separation from his loved ones.
In addition, he found himself in the position of a teenager hiding from military service. He was about to turn seventeen years old, and this age in Germany was considered conscription. The situation was further complicated by the fact that during his studies he did not acquire any skills that would allow him to get a job.
Higher Technical School
The solution for Einstein was to apply to a technical school in Zurich. They were allowed to study there without a diploma of secondary education, which Albert never received. The young man brilliantly passed the exams in mathematics and physics, but failed the other subjects, so he could not enroll.
At the same time, the director of the Zurich technical school was so impressed by his success in the exact sciences that he advised him to try to return to them after finishing his studies at school. Einstein did just that.
In 1896, Albert officially renounced his German citizenship a few months before his seventeenth birthday. For the next few years he was considered stateless until he received a Swiss passport.
In the same year he graduated from the cantonal school in the city of Aarau in northern Switzerland. His academic performance here was quite high, so all the stories that Einstein did poorly at school are not true. In mathematics and physics he had excellent grades, in drawing and geography he received fours (on a six-point system), and in French Albert had a three.
How was the myth born?
There is an assumption where the myth about how Einstein studied at school originally came from. Most likely, historians were misled by his academic records from the Swiss school. It was because of them that biographers unanimously began to consider him a loser.
In the last term, the school administration decided to turn the school's assessment on its head by making a "6" the highest grade. Moreover, in previous trimesters the scale was reversed, so Einstein received a “1” in physics and mathematics, which actually indicated that he had excellent knowledge in these subjects.
Criticism of the education system
Einstein himself remained an implacable critic of the German education system until the end of his life. He was convinced that nothing could be achieved by mindless cramming. And all teachers do is brainwashing.
Einstein said that if a person is forced to march to music, and he begins to enjoy it, this is sufficient reason for him to despise such a person. The Nobel Prize winner spoke quite sharply, asserting that such a person was given a brain by mistake.
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