PORTRAIT OF THE PHYSICIST AS A YOUNG MAN 37suggested that the brothers jointly buy a house in Sendling, a suburb of Munich.
These plans were realized in 1885 with financial support from the family, espe-
cially Pauline's father. The firm was officially registered on May 6, 1885.
Albert and Maja loved their new home on the Adelreiterstrasse with its large
garden shaded by big trees. It appears that business also went well in the begin-
ning. In a book entitled Versorgung von Stddten mil elektrischem Strom, we find
four pages devoted to the 'Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein und Co. in
Miinchen' from which we learn that the brothers had supplied power stations in
Miinchen-Schwabing as well as in Varese and Susa in Italy [Ul].
Thus Einstein spent his earliest years in a warm and stable milieu that was
also stimulating. In his late sixties he singled out one particular experience from
that period: 'I experienced a miracle ... as a child of four or five when my father
showed me a compass' [El]. It excited the boy so much that 'he trembled and
grew cold' [R5]. 'There had to be something behind objects that lay deeply hidden
.. .the development of [our] world of thought is in a certain sense a flight away
from the miraculous' [El]. Such private experiences contributed far more to Ein-
stein's growth than formal schooling.
At the age of five, he received his first instruction at home. This episode came
to an abrupt end when Einstein had a tantrum and threw a chair at the woman
who taught him. At about age six he entered public school, the Volksschule. He
was a reliable, persistent, and slow-working pupil who solved his mathematical
problems with self-assurance though not without computational errors. He did
very well. In August 1886, Pauline wrote to her mother: 'Yesterday Albert
received his grades, he was again number one, his report card was brilliant' [Ela].
But Albert remained a quiet child who did not care to play with his schoolmates.
His private games demanded patience and tenacity. Building a house of cards was
one of his favorites.
In October 1888 Albert moved from the Volksschule to the Luitpold Gymna-
sium, which was to be his school till he was fifteen. In all these years he earned
either the highest or the next-highest mark in mathematics and in Latin [HI]. But
on the whole, he disliked those school years; authoritarian teachers, servile stu-
dents, rote learning—none of these agreed with him. Further, 'he had a natural
antipathy for ... gymnastics and sports. ... He easily became dizzy and tired'
[R6]. He felt isolated and made few friends at school.
There was no lack of extracurricular stimuli, however. Uncle Jakob would pose
mathematical problems and after he had solved them 'the boy experienced a deep
feeling of happiness' [M3]. From the time Albert was ten until he turned fifteen,
Max Talmud, a regular visitor to the family home, contributed importantly to his
education. Talmud, a medical student with little money, came for dinner at the
Einstein's every Thursday night. He gave Einstein popular books on science to
read and, later, the writings of Kant. The two would spend hours discussing sci-
ence and philosophy.* 'In all these years I never saw him reading any light lit-
- After Talmud moved to the United States, he changed his name to Talmey. A book he wrote con-
tains recollections of his early acquaintance with Einstein [Tl].