When I was just born, my family thought that I was deformed because my head was unusually big. It turned out that I was a normal one. In november 1881 I got a little sister, my parents named her Maria but we all called her Maja. A short time after that my family went to Munich where I first attended elementary school and grammar school. I was an "average" pupil but already very early interested in science and mathematics. I did not like lessons in grammar school because they were held with strict discipline and as I was forced to learn. When I turned 15 I left school without any degree and followed my family to Milan. To make up for the missed degree I attended school in Aarau (Switzerland) from 1895 to 1896 when I successfully took my A-levels and began to study in Zurich. My ambition was to obtain the diploma of a subject teacher for mathematics and physics. I successfully finished my studies in July 1900.