I always get inspiration from thinking about Einstein when he was young. I've written several books about him and his theories and yet as I look over what he achieved during his lifetime, I'm still impressed (and inspired). Although he eventually became a famous scientist, he didn't have an easy time of it when he was young.
One of his first disappointments came when his family decided to move to Milan, and he was to be left in Munich to finish high school. He was depressed when they left and soon had problems at school; things got so bad, in fact, that one of his teachers suggested that he leave the school. This wasn't a problem for him,though, as he was quite eager to go, and he soon did.
Needless to say, his family was surprised to see him when he arrived in Milan, and they were disappointed that he hadn't finished his schooling (he was still only in grade 10). He promised, however, to take the entrance exams at a nearby university in Zurich, Switzerland. And a few months later he took them -- and failed. The problem wasn't his marks in math and physics -- they were excellent -- but he hadn't studied anything other than them, so he didn't do well in most other subjects. He therefore had to go back to high school, but after a year in a school at nearby Aarau, he was admitted.
Although there was no question about his brilliance, Einstein wasn't a particularly good student. He preferred to study on his own, and frequently skipped classes. As a result, when he graduated, he ranked 4th out of 5. Furthermore, he had argued with several of his teachers, and found it difficult to find a job. In fact, he searched for almost two years without success.
It's interesting that during this time he also tried to get his doctorate and submitted his "Special Theory of Relativity" as a thesis, but it was rejected because no one could understand it.
This was the low point of his life. He had no job, no prospects, and to top it off, he had got his girlfriend pregnant. But he was persistent, and within a few years everything had turned around quite dramatically,and he was soon one of the most famous scientists in the world.
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