Albert Einstein aquires Swiss citizenship

The Einsteins sent Albert to Aarau, in northern Switzerland to finish secondary school.[6] While lodging with the family of Professor Jost Winteler, he fell in love with the family’s daughter, Marie.

(His sister Maja later married the Winteler son, Paul.)[16] In Aarau, Einstein studied Maxwell’s electromagnetic theory. At age 17, he graduated, and, with his father’s approval, renounced his citizenship in the German Kingdom of Württemberg to avoid military service, and enrolled in 1896 in the mathematics and physics program at the Polytechnic in Zurich. Marie Winteler moved to Olsberg, Switzerland for a teaching post.

In 1901, the year he gained his diploma, he acquired Swiss citizenship and, as he was unable to find a teaching post, he accepted a position as technical assistant in the Swiss Patent Office.

On February 21, 1901 he was given the naturalization of the city of Zurich and thus became a Swiss citizen. He remained a Swiss citizen until the end of his life.