Albert Einstein was born March 14 1879 in Ulm Germany to Hermann Einstein, an engineer and salesman, and Poline Koch. In 1880 his family moved to Munich, Einstein's father and his uncle Jakob founded Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, a company that manufactured electrical equipment based on direct current. Albert attended catholic school here from the age of 5 to 8. Then he transferred to Luitpold Gymnasium where he received advanced primary and secondary school education until he left Germany 7 years later. However, he felt alienated there and struggled with the institution's rigid style. He also had what were considered speech challenges, though he developed a passion for classical music and playing the violin that would stay with him into his later …show more content…
Most significantly, Einstein's youth was marked by deep inquisitiveness. Einstein always excelled at math and physics from a young age. By the age of 12 Einstein had taught himself algebra and Euclidean geometry. It was also at age 12 that Einstein also independently discovered his own original proof of the Pythagorean theorem. His passion for geometry and algebra led the twelve-year-old to become convinced that nature could be understood as a "mathematical structure". Einstein started teaching himself calculus at 12, at age 13, Einstein was introduced to Kant's Critique of Pure Reason, and Kant became his favorite philosopher. And by 14 Einstein says he had "mastered integral and differential calculus".
In 1894, Hermann and Jakob's company lost a bid to supply the city of Munich with electrical lighting because they lacked the capital to convert their equipment from the direct current (DC) standard to the more efficient alternating current (AC) standard. The loss forced the sale of the Munich factory. In search of business, the Einstein family moved to Italy, first