Albert Einstein was born in 1879. He was one of those babies that was real quiet and came across as rather unpromising. He did not learn to talk until other tots were learning sentence fragments.

But as soon as he figured out how his vocal cords worked, he was asking as many questions as he could without hyperventilating. Most of the questions began when Albert was five and home sick. His father bought him a compass to keep him occupied, and scarcely had a minute to himself for the next few days.

Yes, we know that Albert was a brainiac. You’d think his teachers would have loved him. But the way you tend to learn things is by asking questions. Guess how teachers felt when a student was asking questions the teachers couldn’t answer?

German schools were extremely strict. Students had to stand at attention every time they answered a question. Young Mister Einstein was a bit timid, and positively despised school, especially when he was beaten for asking a question a teacher couldn’t answer.

Alberts’ classmates relished having a scapegoat. Who could have been a better one than the dorky kid who always seemed lost in thought, and never wanted to play with them at recess? Alberts’ classmates nicknamed Albert " Honest John" because he always told the truth, even when it could get him in trouble. A little example of this is when the boys in Alberts class always played soldier at recess. (In Germany then, all boys had to be soldiers when they grew up). But Albert hated seeing soldiers at parades. He thought that they always looked like either machines or animals because they always did everything they did at exactly the same moment, almost like they were zombies or something. Anyway, a group of German soldiers were marching past the school one day, and they asked Albert why he wasn’t playing soldier with the other boys. They got mad when Albert said he didn’t want to be a soldier.

Apart from school, Albert was a happy kid. He loved to read, and adored books. At ten years old, he was reading adult science books- and understanding them. He was fascinated by geometry. His best friend was his little sister, Maja.

Albert was a very musical kid. He was always making up little songs and singing them to himself. He also played the violin remarkably well. When he performed at a concert in Munich, he received the loudest applause of the evening.

Alberts parents owned an electrical shop, but it had not been doing well. The Einsteins’ were forced to close the shop. They decided to open a new shop in Milan, Italy. Everyone but Albert moved. Albert had to stay behind to earn a diploma.