Did Einstein fail math? Claim doesn't add up

The famed physicist reportedly called the story "completely distorted." Published Nov. 5, 2026 Claim: Physicist Albert Einstein once failed math during his schooling years. Rating: Since at least the 1920s, a persistent rumor has alleged Albert Einstein once failed math during his schooling years prior to becoming a famous theoretical physicist. "Albert Einstein failed math," a 1997 newspaper article flatly claimed. Many other newspapers have promoted the rumor over past decades. The claim has also appeared on TV shows, for example "The Big Bang Theory" and "Tiny Toon Adventures." Over and over again, our digging revealed examples of the claim on social media platforms, including Facebook (archived), Reddit (archived) and X (archived). A study of historical records found this claim to be false, however, and that Einstein had, by himself, mastered integral and differential calculus and analytical geometry by age 14. How did the myth get started? It's possible it stemmed from people misinterpreting his grades after a school he attended briefly reversed the meaning of the numbers in its grading scale, giving the false impression that Einstein failed some of the courses that in reality, he passed with flying colors. It may also have stemmed from misunderstandings about the time that during his teenage years, Einstein failed an entrance examination to Zurich Polytechnic in Switzerland. It's true that he failed the exam but also true that he excelled in the sections about math and physics. Whereas in the past many less-reliable books and newspapers promoted the false claim, in the present day books and newspapers — and websites — widely dismiss the idea of Einstein failing math as nothing more than a popular myth. Early findings, grade-scale reversal To investigate this topic, Snopes primarily searched the newspaper archives on Newspapers.com, book archives on Google Books and other sources, in particular those covering the period of Einstein's life between 1879 and 1955. In the earliest record of the claim, dating from 1928, an article in the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported Einstein had, at a young age, failed math while attending a university in Berlin. The headline of author Meyer Weisgal's article read, "Einstein, Though at Home With Relativity, Flunked As Mathematics Student." In 1929, amid the other trivia and jokes in a miscellany column in The Evansville Journal came the line, "Einstein failed in mathematics when he was graduated in Berlin. Math teachers, play that on your ukuleles." That same year, H. Wieleitner, then principal of Luitpold Gymnasium, reportedly wrote to a Munich newspaper to refute a Berlin magazine's claim that Einstein had once been a very poor student. The New York Times included these details in 1984 in an article promoting Princeton University Press' upcoming release of "The Collected Papers of Albert Einstein" (pages C1, bottom right of page, and C9, bottom left of page). The gist of the report was that Einstein's school had briefly reversed its numeric grading scale, allegedly, leading to some confusion among researchers studying Einstein's early years. The Times printed a picture of Einstein's grades from a semester at a school in Aargau, Switzerland. Originally, the numeral 6 was the highest possible grade and 1 was the lowest. When the scale was reversed for a short period of time, Einstein received the then-top score of 1 for mathematics. The school later changed its scale back. The Times cited John Stachel, the editor of Princeton's Einstein papers project, when reporting: Although some Einstein biographers have disputed the widely held belief that Einstein was a poor student, the papers at Princeton lay this to rest, once and for all. According to Dr. Stachel, those who saw Einstein's academic records may have been misled by a reversal in the grading system of his school in Aargau, Switzerland. A 'master' of math at age 14 In 1931, a review of author Anton Reiser's 1930 biography, "Albert Einstein: A Biographical Portrait," shed light on the emergence of Einstein's early genius in the 1890s. Page 37 reads: At fourteen the boy was already master of the higher mathematics which the secondary school, based on humanistic principles, did not teach. Integral and differential calculus, analytical geometry—he mastered them all by himself. His mathematical knowledge was already so great that he amazed both teachers and fellow-students. The talent manifested was that of genius. To the teachers, it was not always pleasing. Many questions the boy asked embarrassed them to the point of silence. Pages 44 and 45 discuss Einstein's truly failing an entrance examination in Zurich, Switzerland, at a school now named ETH Zurich. However, Reiser explained Einstein's failure had nothing to do with mathematics and physics, in which he shined so brightly it "astounded his professors" (emphasis ours): At the age of sixteen Albert applied for admission to the Polytechnic Academy at Zurich. He wanted to pass his entrance examination as an alternative to the required graduation certificate, to which his premature departure from the Munich gymnasium and his lack of further schooling did not entitle him. His courage was indeed considerable. Almost a year had passed since he had received any instruction, and now he had come to this strange city to get his matriculation certificate. Unfortunately, his success corresponded with the gloomy probabilities. This first examination, which Albert Einstein needed to pass, ended in complete failure. To begin with, his knowledge of languages and descriptive natural science was unusually poor. True, he shone all the more in mathematics and physics, and astounded his professors. It was suggested that he attend certain lectures on these subjects. Einstein reportedly addressed rumor in 1935 In 1935, a man named Rabbi Harry Cohen reportedly showed Einstein a clipping of Robert Ripley's "Believe It or Not" column headlined "Greatest living mathematician failed in mathematics." Author Denis Brian's 1996 biography, "Einstein: A Life," documented Einstein's exchange with Cohen in which the physicist said he had mastered differential and integral calculus by age 15: Cohen showed Einstein a newspaper feature titled "Believe It Or Not!" by Robert Ripley, which read, "Greatest living mathematician failed in mathematics," and asked if it was true. "The story has been completely distorted," he replied, with a laugh. "When I applied for admission to the Polytechnic School in Zurich at sixteen I was not completely prepared in French and botany. I never failed in mathematics. Before I was fifteen I had mastered differential and integral calculus." Those words — "greatest living mathematician failed in mathematics" — first appeared in newspapers as early as 1930 in an article about an oil industry trade show, not as a "Believe It or Not" column. In 1931, a Ripley reader looking to win a prize in a contest of "Believe It or Nots" submitted the same purported fact as "Einstein, the great German mathematician and originator of his theory of relativity, failed in math while going to college." Then, as early as 1932, Ripley's column featured a section with the title "Einstein Failed In Mathematics." It read: "Albert Einstein, the greatest of living mathematicians, author of the Theory of Relativity, failed in the entrance examinations of the Federal Polytechnic College of Zurich. He was then sixteen years old. The man who was to be ranked with Newton and Copernicus had to do plenty of 'cramming,' and submit to a second examination before he was admitted." Nearly 100 years later, in 2024, Ripley's corrected the record on its website by accurately reporting the facts about the grade-scale reversal at Einstein's school, along with information about his entrance exam failure. "How did the whole story come about, then?" Ripley's writer Chris Littlechild wrote. "In the same way many other misconceptions come about: a combination of hearsay, exaggeration, and half-truths." For further reading, we previously reported about how Einstein truly married one of his cousins. Sources "A View of Einstein in 'Bed Room Slippers.'" The Lake County Times [Hammond, Indiana], 31 Jan. 1931, p. 7, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-times/209553965/."Al Einstein Failed Math Once Too." The Daily Herald [Provo, Utah], 11 Sept. 1992, p. D7, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-daily-herald/209533736/."Albert Einstein's Grades: A Fascinating Look at His Report Cards." Open Culture, 3 June 2025, https://www.openculture.com/?p=1123602.Andrews, Evan. "9 Things You May Not Know About Albert Einstein." History.com, 26 Oct. 2015, https://www.history.com/articles/9-things-you-may-not-know-about-albert-einstein.Apple, Charles. "Myths, Debunked." Index-Journal [Greenwood, South Carolina], 26 Nov. 2021, p. 3B, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-index-journal/209549133/.Brian, Denis. Einstein: A Life. John Wiley & Sons, 1996.Clark, Ronald. Einstein: The Life and Times. A&C Black, 2011."Did Einstein Really Fail Math?" Coloring History, 2 Nov. 2026, https://coloringhistorycoloringbooks.com/notes/did-einstein-really-fail-math/."Einstein Failed in 'Math' Tests." The Birmingham Post [Birmingham, Alabama], vol. 11, no. 51, 20 Mar. 1931, p. 1, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-birmingham-post/209547278/."Einstein Failed in Mathematics." The Tweed Daily [Murwillumbah, New South Wales], XIX, no. 32, 6 Feb. 1932, p. 2, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-tweed-daily/209552673/."Einstein Failed in Mathematics ..." The Evansville Journal [Evansville, Indiana], 2 Feb. 1929, p. 4, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-evansville-journal/209547872/."Einstein's Grades 👀." YouTube, Tibees, 10 Apr. 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2zwZsjlJ-G4.Google Books: Find, Preview, and Read Books Online. https://books.google.com/.Isaacson, Walter. "20 Things You Need to Know About Einstein." Time, 5 Apr. 2007. content.time.com, https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1936731_1936743_1936758,00.html.Jordan Jr., Vernon E. "Law School Bias Case Looms as Key High Court Decision." The Cleveland Press [Cleveland, Ohio], 20 Mar. 1974, p. B3, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-cleveland-press/209536269/.Kloehn, Steve. "Princeton Prepares Einstein Collection ." Daily Record [Northwest New Jersey], vol. 84, no. 283, 2 Apr. 1984, p. 12, https://www.newspapers.com/article/daily-record/209596629/.Littlechild, Chris. "Did Einstein Really Fail Math?" Ripley's Believe It or Not!, 16 Feb. 2024, https://www.ripleys.com/stories/einstein-fail-math.Maister, Martin. "Taking Notes Can Actually Interfere with Learning for Some Students." Newspapers.com [Toronto, Ontario], vol. 4, no. 9, 26 Nov. 1997, p. 6, https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star/209533824/.McPherson, John. "Close To Home." Star-Gazette [Elmira, New York], 4 Mar. 1993, p. 7C, https://www.newspapers.com/article/star-gazette/209533624/."One Good Fact about Einstein." Britannica, 26 July 2023, https://www.britannica.com/one-good-fact/did-einstein-ever-fail-math.Reiser, Anton, and Rudolf Kayser. Albert Einstein: A Biographical Portrait. A. & C. Boni, 1930.Sullivan, Walter. "Einstein Revealed as Brilliant in Youth." The New York Times [New York, New York], 14 Feb. 1984, pp. C1, C9, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1984/02/14/issue.html."The Big Bang Theory, Season 5, Episode 16, The Vacation Solution Transcript." TV Show Transcripts, https://tvshowtranscripts.ourboard.org/viewtopic.php?f=159&t=9458.The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Albert Einstein." Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Albert-Einstein."Tiny Toon Adventures S 1 E 4 Test Stressed." TV Tropes, https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/TinyToonAdventuresS1E4TestStressed.Way, William B. "Oil Show Has Broad Appeal." The Morning Examiner [Bartlesville, Oklahoma], 14 Sept. 1930, p. 16, https://www.newspapers.com/article/morning-examiner/209546250/.Weisgal, Meyer. "Einstein, Though at Home With Relativity, Flunked As Mathematics Student." The Brooklyn Daily Eagle [Brooklyn, New York], 4 Mar. 1928, p. F3, https://www.newspapers.com/article/brooklyn-eagle/209557391/. By Jordan Liles Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016. Article Tags