Einstein/Grades
Andrew Steinberg
The New York Times
February 14, 1984, Tuesday, Late City Final Edition
SECTION: Section C; Page 1, Column 5; Science Desk
HEADLINE: EINSTEIN REVEALED AS BRILLIANT IN YOUTH
BYLINE: By WALTER SULLIVAN
BODY:
CONTRARY to a popular legend that has given comfort to countless slow
starters, young Albert Einstein was remarkably gifted in mathematics, algebra
and physics, academic records recently acquired from Swiss archives show.
The records, contained in a collection of the great theorist's papers now
being prepared for publication at Princeton, confirm that Einstein was a
child prodigy, conversant in college physics before he was 11 years old, a
''brilliant'' violin player who got high marks in Latin and Greek. But his
inability to master French was the bane of his school days, and may have been
chiefly responsible for his failing college entrance examinations.
The documents ''place Einstein in the context of his times much more
than in the past, providing details of his education in Germany and
Switzerland and his more human contacts,'' said Dr. John Stachel, editor
of the papers.
A prime objective of Princeton University Press, which plans to
publish the first volume of the Einstein papers in 1985 after years of
controversy and lawsuits, is to seek out the roots of Einstein's sudden
penetration to a deeper understanding of nature. The series may run to 38
volumes when complete.
The initial volume includes Einstein's first scientific essay, dealing
with the effect of magnetism on the hypothetical ''ether.'' It was written
when he was 16, apparently as part of his first, unsuccessful effort to gain
admission to the Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich.
Although some Einstein biographers have disputed the widely held
belief that Einstein was a poor student, the papers at Princeton lay this
to rest, once and for all. According to Dr. Stachel, those who saw
Einstein's academic records may have been misled by a reversal in the
grading system of his school in Aargau, Switzerland.
Those records show that, for two successive terms, when Einstein was
16, his mark in arithmetic and algebra was 1 on a scale of 6, in which 1
was the highest grade. For the next term his mark was 6, which would have
been the lowest grade,except that the grading scale had been reversed by
school officials.
Examination of the papers, now numbering in the tens of thousands, is a
journey into the academic world of the 19th century, with emphasis, in
Einstein's elementary school experience in Munich, on regimentation and
learning by rote. The curriculum, however, was less rigid in the
preparatory school heattended in Switzerland.
(Stuff deleted)
Neglected Math for Physics
His academic records there were destroyed in World War II, but Dr. Stachel
and his colleagues at Princeton have in hand a letter sent to a Munich
newspaper in 1929 by H. Wieleitner, then principal of the Luitpold
Gymnasium. He had examined Einstein's school record to refute a report
in a Berlin magazine that Einstein had been a very poor student.
With 1 as the highest grade and 6 the lowest, the principal reported,
Einstein's marks in Greek, Latin and mathematics oscillated between 1
and 2 until, toward the end, he invariably scored 1 in math. Nevertheless, as
pointed out by Banesh Hoffmann of Queens College in his book on Einstein, the
latter confessed that he later neglected mathematics in favor of physics.
Another testament to his childhood precocity comes from Dr. Max
Talmey, who, as a medical student in Munich, knew Einstein when he was
ten and a half years old. His ''exceptional intelligence,'' Talmey wrote
later in a book, enabled him to discuss with a college graduate ''subjects far
beyond the comprehension'' of so young a child.
Talmey gave him two books on physics, one of which was entitled
''Force and Matter,'' as though anticipating Einstein's famous definition
of the relationship between mass and energy.
A Weakness in French
It was chiefly Einstein's weakness in French that led to his failure to
pass the entrance examinations for the Federal Technical Institute in Zurich.
According to the documents assembled at Princeton, he had been allowed to
take the examinations even though he was two years younger than the normal
admission age of 18, thanks in part to intervention by a family friend.
The friend was Gustav Maier, whose banking house in Ulm, Germany, many
years earlier had been on the same street as the feather-bedding factory
of Einstein'sgrandfather. Maier wrote to Albin Herzog, head of the Zurich
institute, which was then as now of international repute, extolling
Einstein's genius and urging that he be allowed to take the exam even though
he lacked a school diploma.
While Maier's letter has not been found, the archives of the Zurich
institutehave produced Herzog's reply. ''In my opinion,'' he wrote, ''it
is not advisableto remove even so-called 'Wunderkinder' from an
institution in which they have begun studies before they have been fully
completed.''
He recommended that Einstein finish his preparatory studies, but said he
could take the examinations if he wished. When Einstein failed them, Herzog
suggested that he enter the Aargau Cantonal School, whose graduates were
automatically admitted to the institute. This was the course that Einstein
followed and he was admitted to the Zurich institute in 1896.
Faulty Essay Gives Insights
Before that, at Aargau, French was almost his nemesis. Swiss archives have
produced the minutes of a teacher's conference held on March 15, 1899, in
which it was noted that a written reprimand from the French teacher had
been entered in Einstein's record.
When he finally graduated this blemish was again noted. He was ''promoted
with protest in French,'' his transcript read.
It may be that Einstein, reared in a German-speaking environment, had
difficulty competing with Swiss students who, though in the German- speaking
region, were taught French from childhood.
The essay that Einstein wrote in French on his original examination for
acceptance at the institute in Zurich was full of errors, but also very
revealing. It is quoted in part by Abraham Pais in his recent book on
Einstein, ''Subtle Is the Lord.''
Entitled ''My Future Projects,'' the essay says he hopes to concentrate on
mathematics and physics. ''I see myself becoming a teacher of these
branches of natural science, chosing the theoretical part of these
sciences.''
''Here are the causes which have led me to this plan,'' he continued.
''It is above all my personal disposition toward abstract thought and
mathematics, lack of imagination and of practical talent.''
The Aargau records include an ''inspector's report'' on 17 students of the
violin and piano. ''One student, named Einstein'' it says, ''gave a
brilliant, as well as understanding, rendition of an adagio from a
Beethoven sonata.'' Einstein continued to play the violin during his
years at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, until his death
in 1955.
Andrew Steinberg
U. of Washington