Albert Einstein (1879-1955)
When Albert Einstein was born in the ancient German port to Ulm of Hermann and Pauline Einstein, his grandmother said he was much too heavy, and his mother thought his head too large in back and of too square a shape. The family next worried that he was not developing as a baby should, for he was slow to learn to talk. Once he did learn, he would think out sentences in his head before he began to speak, his lips moving silently as he thought through the words. Earlier than most children, he began to use the word "Why?"--and really wanted to know.
Hermann was a thinker who had a good, though untrained, mathematical mind. Pedantic, he would seldom commit himself to something until he had studied a situation from every angle. Albert followed in these footsteps. At school, when called upon, he was slow to answer because he was weighing all sides of the question first. As a result, his teachers thought him stupid, in spite of his good grades. In fact, the principal of his elementary school once said that it wouldn't matter what profession the boy pursued because he would never be successful at anything.
In many ways, Albert was a studied contrast to most children his age. When the others were playing and laughing, Albert sat by himself to think. Sometimes he would look at a leaf and marvel at its intricate vein structure. Other times he might sit for hours studying the stars, the movement of water in a river or lake. Even though he seldom joined in the games of other children, early on he showed an ability to arbitrate their arguments.
When Albert was ill as a child, and his father bought him a compass o pass the time. The instrument fascinated him and the "why?s" tumbled out faster than usual. The love for science had begun.
In school, Albert detested the constant drilling that was used in the German classrooms of that day. He was supposed to learn Latin and Greek, but languages did not interest him, and he had no desire to memorize grammar and vocabulary. Besides, his slow tongue had enough problems with just German. Although he liked history, he could not understand why he should have to memorize so many dates when they were written in many books and he could look them up if he needed them. Contrary to many stories, however, he did well in school. According to an 1886 letter from his mother to his grandmother,"Yesterday Albert got his grades, once again he was ranked first, he got a splendid report card."
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