PORTRAIT OF THE PHYSICIST AS A YOUNG MAN 41In 1896 Einstein's status changed from that of German high school pupil in
Aarau to that of stateless student at the ETH. Upon payment of three mark, he
received a document, issued in Ulm on January 28, 1896, which stated that he
was no longer a German (more precisely, a Wiirttemberger) citizen. In the fall he
successfully passed the Matura with the following grades (maximum = 6): Ger-
man 5, Italian 5, history 6, geography 4, algebra 6, geometry 6, descriptive geom-
etry 6, physics 6, chemistry 5, natural history 5, drawing (art) 4, drawing (tech-
nical) 4. On October 29 he registered as a resident of Zurich and became a student
at the ETH. Upon satisfactory completion of the four-year curriculum, he would
qualify as a Fachlehrer, a specialized teacher, in mathematics and physics at a
high school. Throughout his student years, from 1896 to 1900, Einstein lived on
an allowance of one hundred Swiss francs per month, of which he saved twenty
each month to pay for his Swiss naturalization papers.*
At this time, however, his family was in financial trouble. Hermann and
Jakob's factory in Pavia failed and had to be liquidated in 1896. Most of the
family funds poured into the enterprise were lost. Jakob found employment with
a large firm. Hermann decided once more to start an independent factory, in
Milan this time. Albert warned his father in vain against this new venture and
also visited an uncle in Germany to urge him to refrain from further financial
support. His advice was not followed. The Einsteins moved back to Milan and
began anew. Two years later Hermann again had to give up. At that time, Albert
wrote to Maja, 'The misfortune of my poor parents, who for so many years have
not had a happy moment, weighs most heavily on me. It also hurts me deeply that
I as a grown-up must be a passive witness. .. without being able to do even the
smallest thing about it. I am nothing but a burden to my relatives. ... It would
surely be better if I did not live at all. Only the thought ... that year after year
I do not allow myself a pleasure, a diversion, keeps me going and must protect me
often from despair' [M8]. This melancholy mood passed when his father found
new work, again related to the installation of electrical power stations.
Einstein's student days did have their pleasant moments. He would allow him-
self an occasional evening at a concert or a theatre or at a KafFeehaus to talk with
friends. He spent happy hours with the distinguished historian Alfred Stern and
his family, and with the family of Marcel Grossmann, a fellow student and friend.
His acquaintance in Zurich with Michele Angelo Besso grew into a life-long
friendship. Then and later he could savor the blessings of friendship and the
beauty of music and literature. But, already as a young man, nothing could dis-
tract him from his destiny, which with poetic precision he put in focus at the age
of eighteen: 'Strenuous labor and the contemplation of God's nature are the angels
which, reconciling, fortifying, and yet mercilessly severe, will guide me through
the tumult of life' [E6].
*In the Tagesblatt der Stadt Zurich of 1895, one finds the following typical advertisements: small
furnished room SF 20/month; two daily hot meals in a boarding house SF 1.40/day without wine;
a better room with board SF 70/month. (I thank Res Jost for finding this out for me.) Thus Ein-
stein's allowance was modest but not meager.