As a child he seemed to be a slow learner and his parents were sure that he had serious health problems. He began to speak when he was about four years old, but when he was about five he first started his science interest when he discovered, by accident, a small pocket compass. Wanting to understand why and how the needle pointed to the North, he took his first steps in the new direction. He would give up his German citizenship when he was 17, to avoid being conscripted, and became a Swiss citizen some time later.
If he hadn't become a scientist, who knows, maybe Einstein would have been a talented musician. He loved music, mainly due to the influence of his mother, herself playing the piano, and took violin lessons from the time he was only five.
There are many stories and legends about his failed studies, but actually Einstein only failed an important exam when he was 16 and enrolled at the Eidgenossische Polytechnische Schule in Zurich. Although he had high grades in Mathematics and Physics it wasn't enough to pass.
Einstein was an admirer of Galileo Galilei.
He was a pipe smoker, and often credited this hobby for much of his discoveries.
One thing he surely had was confidence. During his divorce, in 1919, he actually promised his first wife a large part of his Nobel Prize money. It seemed a little far-fetched at the time, but Einstein - although he wasn't a very good husband by all accounts - was a gentleman and really gave her the money in 1921.
He was offered a chance to be the new president of Israel, and although he was a supporter of the Jewish state he turned down the idea.
He left Germany due to the rise to power of Hitler and chose the USA, and what seemed to be a temporary solution really became his new homeland. Einstein would never return to his native country.
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