Editing Albert Einstein (section)

=== Childhood, youth and education ===
{{See also|Einstein family}}
[[File:Albert Einstein at the age of three (1882).jpg|thumb|upright|left|alt=A young boy with short hair and a round face, wearing a white collar and large bow, with vest, coat, skirt, and high boots. He is leaning against an ornate chair.|Einstein in 1882, age{{nbs}}3]]
Albert Einstein was born in [[Ulm]],<ref name="Bio" /> in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the German Empire, on 14 March 1879. His parents, secular [[Ashkenazi Jews]], were [[Hermann Einstein]], a salesman and engineer, and [[Pauline Koch]]. In 1880, the family moved to [[Munich]]'s borough of [[Ludwigsvorstadt-Isarvorstadt]], where Einstein's father and his uncle Jakob founded Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, a company that manufactured electrical equipment based on [[direct current]].<ref name="Bio"/> He often related a formative event from his youth, when he was sick in bed and his father brought him a [[magnetic compass|compass]]. This sparked his lifelong fascination with [[electromagnetism]]. He realized that "Something deeply hidden had to be behind things."{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p= 13}} 

Albert attended St. Peter's [[Catholic school|Catholic elementary school]] in Munich from the age of five. When he was eight, he was transferred to the [[Luitpold Gymnasium]], where he received advanced primary and then secondary school education.{{Sfnp|Stachel|2002|pp=[{{GBurl|id=OAsQ_hFjhrAC|p=59}} 59–61]}}

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In 1894, Hermann and Jakob's company tendered for a contract to install electric lighting in Munich, but without success—they lacked the capital that would have been required to update their technology from direct current to the more efficient, [[alternating current]] alternative.<ref name="EQyag"/> The failure of their bid forced them to sell their Munich factory and search for new opportunities elsewhere. The Einstein family moved to Italy, first to [[Milan]] and a few months later to [[Pavia]], where they settled in [[Palazzo Cornazzani]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=University of Pavia |title=Einstein, Albert |url=http://musei.unipv.eu/msu/our-museums/historical-figures/albert-einstein/ |website=Museo per la Storia dell'Università di Pavia |publisher=University of Pavia |access-date=7 January 2023}}</ref> Einstein, then fifteen, stayed behind in Munich in order to finish his schooling. His father wanted him to study [[electrical engineering]], but he was a fractious pupil who found the Gymnasium's regimen and teaching methods far from congenial. He later wrote that the school's policy of strict [[rote learning]] was harmful to creativity. At the end of December 1894, a letter from a doctor persuaded the Luitpold's authorities to release him from its care, and he joined his family in Pavia.{{Sfnp|Fölsing|1997|pp=30–31}} While in Italy as a teenager, he wrote an essay entitled "On the Investigation of the State of the [[Aether (classical element)|Ether]] in a Magnetic Field".<ref name=Stachel2008>Stachel, et al (2008). Vol. 1 (1987), doc. 5.</ref><ref name="1RgTv"/>

Einstein excelled at physics and mathematics from an early age, and soon acquired the mathematical expertise normally only found in a child several years his senior. He began teaching himself [[algebra]], [[calculus]] and [[Euclidean geometry]] when he was twelve; he made such rapid progress that he discovered an original proof of the [[Pythagorean theorem]] before his thirteenth birthday.<ref name="FVfDU"/><ref>{{cite book |title=The God Problem: How a Godless Cosmos Creates |edition=illustrated |first1=Howard |last1=Bloom |publisher=Prometheus Books |year=2012 |isbn=978-1-61614-552-1 |page=294 |url={{GBurl|id=xlEupJb4ojIC}} |access-date=8 August 2020 }} {{cite book| url = {{GBurl|id=xlEupJb4ojIC|pg=PT294}}| title = Extract of page 294| isbn = 978-1-61614-552-1| last1 = Bloom| first1 = Howard| date = 30 August 2012| publisher = Prometheus Books| access-date = 8 August 2020}}</ref> A family tutor, [[Max Talmud]], said that only a short time after he had given the twelve year old Einstein a geometry textbook, the boy {{qi|had worked through the whole book. He thereupon devoted himself to higher mathematics{{nbs}}... Soon the flight of his mathematical genius was so high I could not follow.}}{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=17}} Einstein recorded that he had "mastered [[integral]] and [[differential calculus]]" while still just fourteen.{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=16}} His love of algebra and geometry was so great that at twelve, he was already confident that nature could be understood as a "mathematical structure".{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=17}}

[[File:Albert Einstein as a child.jpg|thumb|upright=.9|left|alt=Studio photo of a boy seated in a relaxed posture and wearing a suit, posed in front of a backdrop of scenery.|Einstein in 1893, age{{nbs}}14]]

At thirteen, when his range of enthusiasms had broadened to include music and philosophy,{{sfnp|Calaprice|Lipscombe|2005|p=8}} Talmud introduced Einstein to [[Kant]]'s ''[[Critique of Pure Reason]]''. Kant became his favorite philosopher; according to Talmud, {{qi|At the time he was still a child, only thirteen years old, yet Kant's works, incomprehensible to ordinary mortals, seemed to be clear to him.}}{{sfnp|Isaacson|2007|p=17}}

In 1895, at the age of sixteen, Einstein sat the entrance examination for the [[ETH Zurich|federal polytechnic school]] (later the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. He failed to reach the required standard in the general part of the test,<ref name=Stachel2008a>Stachel, et al (2008). Vol. 1 (1987), p. 11.</ref> but performed with distinction in physics and mathematics.{{Sfnp|Fölsing|1997|pp=36–37}} On the advice of the polytechnic's principal, he completed his secondary education at the [[Old Cantonal School Aarau|Argovian cantonal school]] (a [[Gymnasium (school)|''gymnasium'']]) in [[Aarau]], Switzerland, graduating in 1896.<ref name="b250">{{cite journal | last=Hunziker | first=Herbert | title=Albert Einstein's Magic Mountain: An Aarau Education* | journal=Physics in Perspective | volume=17 | issue=1 | date=2015 | issn=1422-6944 | doi=10.1007/s00016-014-0153-5 | pages=55–69| bibcode=2015PhP....17...55H }} ref for: [[Old Cantonal School Aarau]]</ref> While lodging in Aarau with the family of [[Jost Winteler]], he fell in love with Winteler's daughter, Marie. (His sister, [[Maja Einstein|Maja]], later married Winteler's son Paul.{{Sfnp|Highfield|Carter|1993|pp=21, 31, 56–57}})

[[File:Albert Einstein's exam of maturity grades (color2).jpg|thumb|upright|alt=Einstein's matriculation certificate at the age of 17. The heading translates as "The Education Committee of the Canton of Aargau". His scores were German 5, French 3, Italian 5, History 6, Geography 4, Algebra 6, Geometry 6, Descriptive Geometry 6, Physics 6, Chemistry 5, Natural History 5, Art Drawing 4, Technical Drawing 4. 6 = very good, 5 = good, 4 = sufficient, 3 = insufficient, 2 = poor, 1 = very poor.|Einstein's ''[[Matura]]'' certificate from canton [[Aargau]], 1896<ref group=note name=MaturaScore />]]

In January 1896, with his father's approval, Einstein renounced his [[German citizenship|citizenship of the German Kingdom of Württemberg]] in order to avoid [[Conscription in Germany|conscription into military service]].{{Sfnp|Fölsing|1997|p=40}} The ''[[Matura]]'' (graduation for the successful completion of higher secondary schooling), awarded to him in September 1896, acknowledged him to have performed well across most of the curriculum, allotting him a [[Grading systems by country#Switzerland|top grade of 6]] for history, physics, algebra, geometry, and descriptive geometry.<ref name=Stachel2008b>Stachel, et al (2008). Vol. 1 (1987), docs. 21–27.</ref> At seventeen, he enrolled in the four-year mathematics and physics teaching diploma program at the federal polytechnic school. Marie Winteler, a year older than him, took up a teaching post in [[Olsberg, Aargau|Olsberg]], Switzerland.{{Sfnp|Highfield|Carter|1993|pp=21, 31, 56–57}}

The five other polytechnic school freshmen following the same course as Einstein included just one woman, a twenty year old [[Serbs|Serbian]], [[Mileva Marić]]. Over the next few years, the pair spent many hours discussing their shared interests and learning about topics in physics that the polytechnic school's lectures did not cover. In his letters to Marić, Einstein confessed that exploring science with her by his side was much more enjoyable than reading a textbook in solitude. Eventually the two students became not only friends but also lovers.<ref name="mileva">{{Cite web|last=Gagnon|first=Pauline|date=19 December 2016|title=The Forgotten Life of Einstein's First Wife|url=https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-forgotten-life-of-einsteins-first-wife/|access-date=17 October 2020|website=Scientific American Blog Network|archive-date=17 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201017222145/https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/the-forgotten-life-of-einsteins-first-wife/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Historians of physics are divided on the question of the extent to which Marić contributed to the insights of Einstein's ''annus mirabilis'' publications. There is at least some evidence that he was influenced by her scientific ideas,<ref name="mileva"/><ref name="7HA7H"/><ref name="1zJdH"/> but there are scholars who doubt whether her impact on his thought was of any great significance at all.{{Sfnp|Pais|1994|pp=1–29}}<ref name="xKrMG"/>{{Sfnp|Stachel|2002|pp=[{{GBurl|id=OAsQ_hFjhrAC|p=49}} 49–56]}}<ref name="dUxMl"/>