 Albert Einstein was born on the 14th of March 1879 in Ohm, the United Kingdom of Wottenberg in the German Empire. His father, Hermann Einstein, was an engineer and a salesman who always wanted to influence the decision of his son. At age 5, Albert attended a Catholic elementary school and schooled there for three years, after which he was taken to another school where he received advanced primary and secondary school education. Albert was an excellent student in mathematics and physics. At 12, he independently taught himself Euclidean geometry and algebra, making him reach a mathematical level years ahead of his peers. When he became 13, he had a very serious interest in philosophy and was able to comprehend complex theories that were incomprehensible to children of his age. At the age of 16 in 1895, Albert wrote the entrance examination for the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School in Zürich. His father and everyone else expected the young genius to ace the examination but Albert surprisingly failed because he couldn't meet the required standard in the general part of the examination. A year later, he took the entrance examination again and passed successfully, acing every required part of the exam. He enrolled for a physics and mathematics teaching diploma program which he completed in four years. His father wanted him to pursue a career in electrical engineering but Albert was never interested in that. He felt electrical engineering was below his intellectual standards and he wanted to do something much greater. His father was greatly displeased and lost faith in him for this. When Albert got into the university, he couldn't get the support he needed from his father. He was sometimes devastated making him to perform poorly in the courses of his studies and also causing him to almost drop out of the school. At the time of his father's death, Albert had not achieved anything tangible which made his father consider him as a total failure before he died. Albert was really heartbroken because of this. After completing his education at the university, Albert was not sure what to do with the knowledge he had acquired at the time. However, he kept conducting a series of research and continued expanding his knowledge in the world of physics. Albert's strong desire to do extraordinary things eventually pushed him to greatness. After several years of struggle and failure, he became a prominent theoretical physicist who accomplished groundbreaking achievements such as the development of the theory of relativity and several fundamental laws governing physics. Albert was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1921. After helping the world to have a better understanding of how the universe works, to this day, he is still labeled one of the greatest men with an extraordinary intelligence that ever lived. Most times, people become great due to their earnest desire and hunger to do great and extraordinary things. When you strive to do great things in life, even though disappointments come your way, you will eventually become great. As Edmond Hillary said, people do not decide to become extraordinary, they decide to accomplish extraordinary things. You can't become extraordinary by just desiring or saying it to yourself. You must make sure you do something extraordinary, something that is out of this world, something that no one has ever dared to do before. People will definitely label you a great person the moment you do something extraordinary. William Faulkner said, Always dream and shoot higher than you know you can do. Don't bother to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors. Try to be better than yourself. Always desire to surpass the heights that you know you can go beyond. Don't limit yourself. You may have counterparts or competitors, but don't focus on becoming better than them. Rather, focus on becoming better than your present self because you are your biggest competitor. Michael Jordan said, You must expect great things of yourself before you can do them. The first step you must take in becoming great is to believe that you are truly capable of doing great things. When you have those beliefs, it becomes the foundation upon which you will build your greatness. Don't stop having faith in your ability to do things that are not ordinary because you can actually do extraordinary things.