Albert Einstein was the first child born to Hermann and Pauline Einstein, Jewish, middle-class Germans, on March 14, 1879 at Ulm, in Wurttemberg, Germany. Albert's sister, Maria, was born in November of 1881. They remained close throughout their lives. The Einstein family moved to Munich in 1880 to start their own business. Albert began his secondary schooling at Luitpold-Gymnasium. In 1894, the family business failed and the family moved to Milan, Italy. Albert stayed behind in Munich to finish his education at the Gymnasium. However, Albert hated the high school he attended and a teacher recommended that he leave, as his presence encouraged students' disrespect for teachers. So, at 15, he quit school to join his family in Italy.

Photo from http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/early2.htm

In 1895, Albert took an entrance exam to get into the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology and failed. He studied at a Swiss school in Aurau and graduated a year later. In 1896 he returned to the Institute and graduated in 1900 as a secondary teacher of mathematics and physics. During this time he meets Mileva Maric and falls in love. He tried unsucessfully to obtain an Institute job, but failed. He eventually obtained a job at the Swiss Patent Office. The position at the Patent Office gave Albert the time to devote his thought to physics and he began publishing scientific papers.