Underdog Story of the Day - Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein

Everyone correlates intelligence with Einstein, but who would've thought that the man himself, Albert Einstein couldn't even speak fluently until the age of 9. Teachers and students thought that Einstein was mentally challenged because of his reading abilities. His parents even took him to the doctors to get him tested for developmental issues.

His grades when he reached high school were passing but only because of his exceptional grades in mathematics and physics, often failing in other subjects. He wanted to pursue his studies in electrical engineering, but he entered the Zürich Polytechnic, the four-year mathematics and physics program. He'd skip classes that he didn't like and to pass his exams he copied class notes from Marcel Grossman. He ended up with the highest grades in his class.

Einstein wanted to be a professor's assistant but the professors knew his rebellious nature, so they denied his application.

After graduating in 1900, Einstein's untraditional methods caused him issues. Since he often skipped classes to study complex subjects on his own time, when he asked for a letter of recommendation from Heinrich Weber, Einstein was subsequently denied for every academic position he applied for.

Soon after, Einstein and Mileva Maric, a fellow student of his past physics class, got very serious. His parents deeply opposed the relationship due to her Serbian background. As the rebellious Einstein always did, he went against their opinions and even had a child with Maric.

Crisis struck in 1902. Einstein could not marry her and support a family without a job, and his father's business went bankrupt. Fortunately, his lifelong friend Marcel Grossmann recommended him for a position in the Swiss patent office as a clerk. But the positive only lasted for a short while, as Einstein's father became seriously ill, and just before he passed, gave his blessing to marry Maric. 

Einstein continued to work as a clerk. He liked being a clerk because it required very little mental strain so he could put all his efforts into his mathematics and physics studies.

He later went on to notoriously accomplish:

1) Providing empirical evidence for the atomic theory.

2) Enabled the determination of Avogadro's number and therefore the size of molecules.

3) Solved the riddle of the photoelectric effect.

4) Proposed the special theory of relativity.

5) Came up with the concept of rest energy through his famous equation.

6) Proposed the general theory of relativity.

7) Collaborated with Bose to predict the existence of bose-einstein condensate.

8) Awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921.

WATCH: The Incredible Life of Albert Einstein  

Wrap-up

Einstein defied the odds. It could've been easy for him to accept society's labels for him, but he didn't allow other people's opinions to affect what he knew he was. He knew he was intelligent. He knew he had a profound knowledge to benefit the world. What we can learn from Einstein is to never underestimate your capabilities. As Wayne W. Dyer said, "you'll see it when you believe it." The belief that you can is half the battle, then the rest is just action.