Obscure Dad: Hermann Einstein
“… I experienced as a child at the age of four or five when my father showed me a compass. That this needle behaved in such a determined way was all out of place concerning the manner of the events which could find a place in the unconscious vocabulary of concepts… I still remember today… that this experience has left a permanent impression with me.”
Albert Einstein, autobiographic writings, 1946
Hermann Einstein was born in Buchau, Wurttemberg to his parents Abraham Einstein (1808–1868) and Helene Moos (1814–1887), who had married in Buchau in April 1839. He had three brothers August Ignaz, Heinrich and Jakob and two sisters Jette and Friederike.
At the age of 14 Hermann attended the secondary school in the regional capital Stuttgart and was academically successful. He had a strong affection for mathematics and would have liked to study in this or a related area. But as the financial situation of the family opposed further education, he decided to become a merchant and began an apprenticeship in Stuttgart.
Hermann married 18-year-old Pauline Koch in Cannstatt, Wurttemberg on August 8, 1876. After their wedding, the young couple lived in Ulm, where Hermann became joint partner in the bed feathers shop of his cousins Moses and Hermann Levi. In Ulm their son Albert was born on March 14, 1879. On the initiative of Hermann’s brother Jakob, the family moved to Munich in the summer of 1880. There the two brothers founded the electrical engineering companyEinstein & Cie, with Hermann being the merchant and Jakob the technician. The second child of Hermann and Pauline, their daughter Maria (called Maja) was born in Munich on November 18, 1881.
The Einstein’s electrical firm manufactured dynamos and electrical meters based on Direct current. They were instrumental in bringing electricity to Munich, the capital of a very Catholic Bavaria. In 1885 they won the contract that provided DC lights to illuminate the Oktoberfest for the first time. To young impressionable Albert, this must have been the source of great pride, for at this time Albert was the only Jew in his Catholic Petersschule class.
To their dismay and detriment the Einstein brothers eventually lost a bidding war for the electrification contract of Munich to Siemens, which promoted the modern Alternating current. Their fortunes took a decidedly downward turn from there.
The two brothers moved their company to Pavia, Italy in 1894. Hermann, Pauline and Maja moved to Milan in the same year and one year later moved to Pavia. Albert stayed with relatives in Munich to continue his education there. Due to poor business, Hermann and Jakob had to abandon their factory in 1896. Though Hermann had lost most of their money, he founded another electrical engineering company in Milan, this time without his brother. He was supported financially by his relatives in this venture. Though business was better this time, Hermann was preoccupied with “worries due to the vexatious money”. These worries didn’t pass him traceless. His health had suffered a lot from this in the last years. He died on October 10, 1902 at the age of 55 in Milan on heart failure.
- Won every boasting contest ever.
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