  Einstein at the Z\"urich Polytechnic: he skipped classes, did not attend all
the lectures of his Professors, and before going to the examinations he studied
instead from the notebooks of his good friend from class, Marcel Grossmann.
Einstein the free-thinker did not respect the two major professors in the
Polytechnic - Heinrich Friedrich Weber and Jean Pernet - who eventually turned
on him. He felt that his beloved science had lost its appeal because Weber's
lectures did not include Maxwell's electromagnetic theory. Einstein seldom
showed up to Pernet's practical physics course. By his fourth-rightness and his
distrust of authority he had alienated his professors, especially Weber, who
apparently conceived a particular dislike of him. At the Z\"urich Polytechnic,
Einstein could not easily bring himself to study what did not interest him.
Most of his time he spent on his own studying Maxwell's theory and learning at
first hand the works of great pioneers in science and philosophy: Boltzmann,
Helmholtz, Kirchhoff, Hertz, Mach. Eventually, Einstein finished first in his
class in the intermediate exams; second after him was his note taker Grossmann.
Do not ever try Einstein's recipe for studying in college, because after
obtaining the diploma, when he sought university positions, he was rebuffed.
Finally rescue came from Grossmann, and thanks to him and his father Einstein
obtained a post in the Patent Office. There are strong reasons to believe that
it was Einstein's rare mastery of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory that
ultimately prompted the Director of the Patent Office to offer him a job.
