"It is almost a
miracle that modern teaching methods have not yet entirely strangled the holy
curiosity of inquiry; for what this delicate little plant needs more than anything,
besides stimulation, is freedom."
Einstein's family had moved to Italy
to try to establish a business, and he joined them for a glorious half year
of freedom from work and anxiety. In 1895 he took the entrance examination for
the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology -- and he failed. He was advised to
study at a Swiss school in Aarau; here his teachers were humane and his ideas
were set free. His thoughts turned to the theory of electromagnetism formulated
by James Clerk Maxwell, seldom taught even in universities at the turn of the
century.
From
a classroom essay Einstein
wrote in French at the age of 16, explaining why he would like to study
theoretical mathematics or physics: "Above all it is my individual disposition
for abstract and mathematical thought, my lack of imagination and practical
talent. My inclinations have also led me to this resolve. That is quite natural;
one always likes to do things for which one has talent. And then there is a
certain independence in the scientific profession which greatly pleases me."
Einstein graduated from the Aarau
school and entered the Institute of Technology in Zurich. Around this time he
recognized that physics was his true subject. Only there could he "seek out
the paths that led to the depths." He also realized that he could never be an
outstanding student. Fortunately his friend Marcel Grossmann had the conventional
traits Einstein lacked. While Einstein worked in the library or the laboratory,
Grossmann took excellent notes at the mathematics lectures, and gladly shared
them with his friend before examinations. Einstein later wrote, "I would rather
not speculate on what would have become of me without these notes."
Einstein grew familiar with the
successes of past scientists who had tried to explain the world entirely through
atoms or fluids, interacting like parts of a machine. But he learned that Maxwell's
theory of electricity and magnetism was defying efforts to reduce it to mechanical
processes. Through a new friend, the engineer Michele Besso, Einstein came to
the writings of Ernst Mach -- a skeptical critic of accepted ideas in physics.