Albert Einstein was born in Ulm, in the Kingdom of Württemberg in the German Empire on March 14, 1879.[4] His father was Hermann Einstein, a salesman and engineer. His mother was Pauline Einstein (née Koch). In 1880, the family moved to Munich, where his father and his uncle founded Elektrotechnische Fabrik J. Einstein & Cie, a company that manufactured electrical equipment based on direct current.[4]

Einstein at the age of 4. His father showed him a pocket compass, and Einstein realized that there must be something causing the needle to move, despite the apparent "empty space."[6]
The Einsteins, though Jewish, were non-observant, and their son attended a Catholic elementary school from the age of five until ten.[7] Although Einstein had early speech difficulties, he was a top student in elementary school.[8][9] As he grew, Einstein built models and mechanical devices for fun and began to show a talent for mathematics.[4] In 1889, a family friend Max Talmud introduced the ten-year old Einstein to key texts in science, mathematics and philosophy, including Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Euclid's Elements (which Einstein called the "holy little geometry book").[10]