Cobra Effect · Famous myths
Did Einstein fail maths?
How a real exam failure turned into the myth that Einstein failed maths.
7 cards, read aloud in 2:26, with a test and sources.
A popular story says Albert Einstein failed maths at school.
It is often told to comfort struggling students. If even Einstein failed, the story goes, there is hope for anyone. The story is false, though it grew from something real.
At school in Munich, Einstein did well, and was outstanding in mathematics.
He disliked learning by rote, and clashed with strict school authority. He taught himself a great deal of mathematics outside his lessons. At fifteen, he left school to join his family in Italy.
In 1895, at sixteen, he sat the entrance exam for a leading technical college in Zurich.
He was younger than most of the candidates. He did very well in mathematics and physics. But he fell short in the general subjects, so he did fail the exam overall.
He spent a year at a school in Aarau, in Switzerland, and then passed.
His final certificate in 1896 gave him top marks in algebra, geometry and physics. His weakest mark was in French. He went on to study at the Zurich college he had first failed to enter.
In 1935, a popular newspaper feature claimed that Einstein had failed in mathematics.
The feature was Ripley’s Believe It or Not. When Einstein was shown it, he denied it. He said he had mastered calculus before he was fifteen.
Swiss school grades may have added to the confusion.
In Switzerland, six was the best grade, while in Germany, one was the best. According to some accounts, an early biographer mixed up the two scales, and read his top marks as poor ones. A real exam failure, a newspaper feature and a mix up over grades blended into one myth.
So when a comforting story is told about a famous person, ask whether the records agree.
Einstein really did fail an entrance exam, at sixteen, in subjects outside science. He never failed mathematics. The truth is less comforting, and more interesting.
Sources
- Einstein’s early years, American Institute of Physics. His schooling in Munich, and what he taught himself.
- Albert Einstein, Wikipedia. The entrance exam and his Aarau grades, with the certificate.
- Albert Einstein quotes, Wikiquote. His reply to the claim that he failed mathematics, with its source.
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