"There was this huge world
out there, independent of us human beings and standing before us like a great,
eternal riddle, at least partly accessible to our inspection and thought. The
contemplation of that world beckoned like a liberation."
One story Einstein liked
to tell about his childhood was of a "wonder" he saw when he was four or five
years old: a magnetic compass. The needle's invariable northward swing, guided
by an invisible force, profoundly impressed the child. The compass convinced
him that there had to be "something behind things, something deeply hidden."
Even as a small boy Einstein was self-sufficient and thoughtful. According to
family legend he was a slow talker at first, pausing to consider what he would
say. His sister remembered the concentration and perseverance with which he
would build up houses of cards to many stories. The boy's thought was stimulated
by his uncle, an engineer, and by a medical student who ate dinner once a week
at the Einsteins'.
"At the age of 12, I experienced a wonder in a booklet dealing with Euclidean plane geometry,
which came into my hands at the beginning of a school year. Here were assertions, as for
example the intersection of the three altitudes of a triangle in one point, which -- though by
no means evident -- could nevertheless be proved with such certainty that any doubt appeared
to be out of the question. This lucidity and certainty made an indescribable impression on
me."
Although he got generally good
grades (and was outstanding in mathematics), Einstein hated the academic high
school he was sent to in Munich, where success depended on memorization and
obedience to arbitrary authority. His real studies were done at home with books
on mathematics, physics, and philosophy. A teacher suggested Einstein leave
school, since his very presence destroyed the other students' respect for the
teacher. The fifteen-year-old boy did quit school in mid-term to join his parents,
who had moved to Italy.
Was Einstein's brain different?