You will certainly be surprised to learn that Edison was always at the bottom of his class and was deemed “crazy, not worth studying longer,” Albert Einstein was terrified of going to school, and the great inventor Edison was primarily self-taught…
Childhood of Geniuses
1. Albert Einstein: Afraid of School
Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) is one of humanity’s greatest scientists, the father of “theory of relativity.” Together with Newton, he is one of the two brilliant minds that significantly influenced the development of modern physics.
However, as a child, Einstein showed no remarkable signs of intelligence and even developed cognitively quite slowly. At the age of 4, he could not yet speak, and his father tried every possible way to help him develop like other children.
During his school years, Einstein’s academic performance was very poor, falling far behind his classmates. The principal of the school Einstein attended insisted to his father that “this boy will amount to nothing when he grows up.”
Einstein as a student. (Illustrative photo: Tumblr)
The mocking and malicious teasing from those around him made young Einstein very sad. He became afraid of going to school, fearing facing teachers and classmates. He also believed he truly was a foolish child.
However, thanks to the immense encouragement from his mother—a smart, beautiful, and highly educated woman—Einstein’s intellect developed rapidly, and he gradually overcame his inferiority complex, becoming optimistic and cheerful.
Einstein often posed strange, even bizarre questions, such as: Why does a magnet point south? What is time? What is space?… People thought this boy had a problem with his mind.
Einstein’s strange questions in school helped him become a great scientist later. (Illustrative photo: WordPress)
But they did not realize that those problematic questions from the boy would lead Einstein to his future success.
2. Isaac Newton: Always Coming Up with Strange Games
Newton was a great scientist with a significant global influence, known for formulating the law of “universal gravitation,” laying the foundation for mechanics, optics, and classical physics.
As a schoolboy, Newton was famous for his strange games. He once terrified and amazed the villagers with his night kite-flying game, where the surprising part was that his kite emitted a red light.
The glowing kite floating in the sky frightened people, making them think of mystical beings, as if it were a fire spirit or a ghost, not knowing it was just a strange game of the boy. Newton had tied a red paper lantern to the tail of the kite, which created that strange light.
Newton as a student was always famous for his strange games. (Illustrative photo: Wikipedia)
Newton was a quiet and introverted boy, often deep in thought and not keen on playing with many friends.
His happiest moments were spent hiding in a corner of the garden reading books and dreaming with distant meanings. During free time, he would go to the laboratory or get lost in inventing unusual toys. This way, Newton honed practical skills that were useful for his future research.
It is quite unexpected that those childhood games prepared the frail, premature boy, who lost his father at birth, to become a world-renowned scientist.
3. Edison: A Self-Taught Genius
Edison is the most prominent scientist in America and the world, holding 1,907 patents—a record in the scientific community. He also read more than 10,000 books and could finish three books a day. Edison and the electric light bulb became famous worldwide.
Edison was often at the bottom of his class and ridiculed by classmates. (Photo: Thinkjarcollective)
At the age of 7, Edison attended the only school in the area, which had just one class of 40 students of all ages. Edison was seated closest to the teacher, a spot designated for the poorest-performing students. While in class, Edison did not focus on answering questions but often posed many challenging questions to the teacher. As a result, he frequently found himself at the bottom of the class, subject to ridicule from his peers.
Edison’s teacher once said of him, “This student is crazy; he doesn’t deserve to sit in class any longer.” From that point, Edison stopped attending school and studied at home with his mother.
During this time, his family lived in great difficulty. At the age of 12, Edison had to work to earn money, selling newspapers and candy on trains while conducting his scientific research on the side.
Edison explored and conducted scientific research outside of school. (Photo: Zpply)
Once, while conducting an experiment, Edison accidentally set fire to a train car. As a result, he was slapped by the ticket inspector and thrown off the train, and he was banned from the tracks. This incident gradually impaired Edison’s hearing for the rest of his life.
4. Bill Gates: A Childhood Linked to Computers
Bill Gates is the co-founder of the world’s largest software corporation, Microsoft, and has made significant contributions to the global information technology industry.
Bill Gates was exposed to computers from a very young age. (Illustrative photo: Wired)
When he was in elementary school, it is said that Gates read an encyclopedia from A to Z before turning 10. At age 11, he could recite many chapters from the Gospel. Bill Gates’ parents recognized his unique intelligence and sent him to Lakeside, a prestigious private school. It was here that he first encountered computers and met Paul Allen, who would later become his partner.
Gates spent hours in front of a computer every day from the age of 13. For many young people today, this is quite normal. But in the 1960s, computers were still a novelty and lacked user interfaces.
Bill Gates made significant strides in the world of information technology. (Photo: Sodahead)
Gates’ classmates remarked that he was frighteningly intelligent and always idolized him. Any young person from Lakeside School who attended from 1967 to 1972 remembers a bright boy named Gates, who often lingered in the school’s computer room.
The opportunity to become acquainted with computers from a very young age laid the foundation for Gates to become a billionaire in the global technology industry.
5. Steve Jobs: The Rebel in School
Steven Paul Jobs (1955 – 2011) was a legendary American business magnate and inventor, former CEO of Apple, and one of the most influential figures in the computer industry.
His school days were quite unique; he constantly devised bizarre, mischievous, and rebellious games. For him, a day without rebellion was truly boring.
Steve Paul Jobs was a rebel from a young age. (Photo: Koupoukis)
During elementary school, Jobs always felt bored and found nothing new to learn since his mother had taught him to read beforehand. He began to think of rebellious tricks to play in class.
By third grade, his pranks became increasingly dangerous; once, he placed explosives under his teacher’s chair, causing her to jump in fear. Consequently, Jobs was sent home from school repeatedly. However, his parents never blamed or scolded him.
To manage him, teachers and family resorted to the method of “bribing with gifts” to encourage him to behave and study diligently. This method indeed helped him change significantly, and his test scores reached the level of a seventh-grade student.
At this point, his teachers and parents discovered he had extraordinary intelligence and decided to allow him to skip grades, moving directly from fourth grade to seventh grade.
When attending classes with older students, Jobs felt lonely and often bullied. He demanded his parents transfer him to another school and threatened to drop out if his request was not met.
By ninth grade, he was transferred to Homestead High School. At this new school, he began to develop an interest in math, science, and electronics. His mischievous antics later mostly involved electronics. During this time, he tinkered and created a few radios. This success gave him the confidence that he could create a television after seeing one in a catalog.
In his final year of high school, Jobs took an electronics course taught by John McCollum, a former Navy officer. During this course, he created a device with a photoelectric system that could switch on upon exposure to light, an achievement not every high school student could attain.
6. Adam Khoo
Young millionaire Adam Khoo – author of 13 best-selling books.
Adam Khoo is one of the 25 richest individuals under 40 in Singapore, a successful entrepreneur, author of best-selling books, and a leading training expert.
With his own efforts, Adam Khoo became a millionaire at the age of 26. Currently, Adam Khoo is the founder, senior training expert, and Chairman of the Board of Directors of Adam Khoo Education Group.
In addition, Adam is also a leading consultant in finance, marketing, management, leadership, and personal development.
Adam owns various companies across seven countries in diverse fields such as education, training, advertising, and event management, with total annual revenue exceeding $30 million.
With such remarkable success today, it’s hard to believe that during his school days, Adam Khoo performed poorly and was even expelled from school.
At 12 years old, Adam was considered a lazy, ignorant child, almost slow-moving and hopeless. While in the third grade, he was expelled and had to transfer to another school.
In middle school, he was rejected by six schools and ultimately had to attend the worst ones. Even the math teacher once invited Adam’s mother to ask her: “Why can’t Adam Khoo, a first-year middle school student, do fourth-grade math?“
This was partly because before entering elementary school, the boy hated reading, preferring to play video games and watch TV. His refusal to study led to a string of failing grades, which only fueled his hatred for teachers, school, and even learning itself.
7. Napoleon Bonaparte
Napoleon was the first Consul of France, Emperor of France, and King of Italy; however, his ability to speak French was quite poor. Why?
Napoleon Bonaparte was born in 1769 on the island of Corsica, which had been purchased by the French from Italy a year earlier. Therefore, he spoke Italian very well, while his French was quite poor, requiring him to practice daily.
A painting depicting the authority of Napoleon.
At school, this left-handed boy was often teased by his peers for speaking French slowly and not as accurately as others. However, Napoleon excelled in subjects like math and history.
At 10, he was sent to a military school, where he used his scholarship money to help his family. Remarkably, Napoleon hardly ever slept; he spent his free time reading books and magazines.
With his exceptional talent, Napoleon was introduced to attend the Royal Military School in Paris. At the age of 16, he held the rank of Captain, a feat that had never been seen in human history.
Napoleon built a vast empire across Europe; his name overshadowed the era, and he was indeed a great genius of the world.
8. Charles Darwin
Charles Darwin was born into a family with a tradition of education. However, from a young age, his passion was not the lectures from his teachers but rather the natural world around him.
Darwin often enjoyed observing the lives of plants and insects, unlike many of his peers. Outside of school hours, he would roam the fields, hunting for various insects and plants.
Charles Darwin loved observing the lives of various creatures.
At school, Darwin’s academic performance was not outstanding. He dedicated most of his time to natural sciences. The deeper he delved into the mysteries of the wild, the more captivated he became. He often dreamed of traveling to distant lands to further study nature and life.
During college, Darwin joined a society of natural science enthusiasts, discussing issues related to geology, botany, and zoology, and participated in field trips with the research group.
After graduating from college, Darwin boarded the HMS Beagle – a ship of the Royal Navy – to begin his first voyage around the world, exploring the mysteries of nature in remote areas.
Upon returning from these journeys, Darwin compiled his notes systematically. He began to present fundamental ideas about the evolution of species.
