| Many organizations that promote the interests of | | | | True, Einstein did not pass the college exam the first |
| individuals with learning disabilities claim that Albert | | | | time he took it. However, aside from being only sixteen, |
| Einstein had a learning disability, and this claim has | | | | two years below the usual age, the plain fact was he |
| become widely accepted. | | | | did not study for it. His father wanted his son to follow |
| It is interesting to note that a review of biographical | | | | a technical occupation, a decision Einstein found difficult |
| sources, however, provides little or no evidence to | | | | to confront directly. Consequently, as he later admitted, |
| support this assertion. | | | | he avoided following the "unbearable" path of a |
| According to LD lore Einstein failed to talk until the age | | | | "practical profession" by not preparing himself for the |
| of four, the result of a language disability. It is also | | | | test. |
| claimed that Einstein could not read until the age of | | | | It is also true that, after graduating from the university, |
| nine. To strengthen their case LD proponents point to | | | | Einstein had difficulty finding a post. This was mainly |
| such facts that Einstein failed his first attempt at | | | | because his independent, intellectually rebellious nature |
| entrance into college and lost three teaching positions | | | | made him, in his own words, "a pariah" in the academic |
| in two years. | | | | community. One professor told him, "You have one |
| While this makes a nice story, this widely believed | | | | fault; one can't tell you anything." |
| notion is false, according to Ronald W. Clark's | | | | Also true is that Einstein went through three jobs in a |
| comprehensive biography of Einstein, and according to | | | | short time, but not because of a learning disability. His |
| "Subtle is the Lord: The Science and Life of Albert | | | | first job was as a temporary research assistant, the |
| Einstein," a biography by Abraham Pais (Oxford | | | | second as temporary replacement for a professor |
| University Press, 1982). | | | | who had to serve a two-month term in the army. |
| Pais states that although his family had initial | | | | Clark remarks that it is "difficult to discover but easy to |
| apprehensions that he might be backward because of | | | | imagine" why Einstein held his third job, as a teacher in |
| the unusually long time before he began to talk, Einstein | | | | a boarding school, for only a few months: "Einstein's |
| was speaking in whole sentences by some point | | | | ideas of minimum routine and minimum discipline were |
| between age two and three years. According to Clark, | | | | very different from those of his employer." |
| a far more plausible reason for his relatively late | | | | In his article "Was Einstein learning disabled? Anatomy |
| speech development is "the simpler situation suggested | | | | of a myth," (published in 2004 in the "Skeptics Society |
| by Einstein's son Hans Albert, who says that his father | | | | & Skeptic Magazine," a revised version of an |
| was withdrawn from the world even as a boy." | | | | article that originally appeared in the March/April 2000 |
| Whether one accepts this interpretation, other | | | | issue of the "Journal of Learning Disabilities") Marlin |
| information helps us to judge Einstein's language abilities | | | | Thomas concludes: "Given the meager basis for the |
| after he began to speak. | | | | claim that Einstein was learning disabled, one has to |
| Einstein entered school at the age of six, and against | | | | wonder why it has become so accepted. Part of the |
| popular belief did very well. When he was seven his | | | | reason is the encouragement it gives all of us to know |
| mother wrote, "Yesterday Albert received his grades, | | | | that even geniuses have shortcomings. The claim also |
| he was again number one, his report card was brilliant." | | | | enhances the prestige of learning disabled individuals. |
| At the age of twelve Einstein was reading physics | | | | Any marginalized group benefits from having one of its |
| books. At thirteen, after reading the "Critique of Pure | | | | members be a stellar figure in cultural history. These |
| Reason" and the work of other philosophers, Einstein | | | | may be salutary, but the consequence of claiming that |
| adopted Kant as his favorite author. About this time he | | | | Einstein was learning disabled without historical |
| also read Darwin. Pais states, "the widespread belief | | | | evidence is harmful. It distorts the historical record and |
| that he was a poor student is unfounded." | | | | it questions the credibility of other claims regarding the |
| FAILING HIS COLLEGE ENTRANCE EXAMS | | | | learning disabilities of prominent persons. |