(A)

The first credit card invented was dreamed up by a man named John Biggins and was called the “Charge-It” card. This card was created in 1946. Biggins was a banker living in Brooklyn, New York, and he came up with an easier, more direct system of credit. When a customer used the Charge-It card, a bill for that person’s purchase was also sent to his/her bank for review.

(B)

Instead of the customer paying the merchant directly, the bank would pay them. There were some restrictions even then back in the history of credit cards. For example, all purchases had to be made locally and anyone with the Charge-It card had to be an actual customer of Biggins’ bank. Regardless of these restrictions, the whole process was a success.

(C)

Another early credit card was the Diners Club Card, which was invented in 1949. The idea for this credit card came about when a businessman by the name of Frank McNamara went out to an important dinner. While he was out, he realized he had left his wallet at home. Somehow he managed to pay, but had the idea that there had to be other ways to pay for things other than cold, hard cash.

(D)

Soon he was working with his business partner and they developed the Diners Club Card, which was originally on a piece of cardboard. Just two years later, over 20,000 people had a Diners Club Card. It was used mostly for eating and entertainment and was known as a charge card, meaning that the balance had to be paid completely off each month.

(E)

American Express (AMEX) had been in existence since the 1850s, but it was not until 1958 that the company introduced their first credit card on a small piece of purple plastic. In all of the history of credit cards, AMEX was the first to use plastic in their material instead of paper or cardboard. Soon, American Express had taken off and became the most widely used credit card in the country, and could claim one million cardholders within the first five years of its origination.

Einstein would recall that his years in Zurich (where he studied at the Swiss Federal Polytechnic School) were some of the happiest of his life. He met many students who would become loyal friends, such as Marcel Grossman, a mathematician, and Michele Besso, with whom he enjoyed lengthy conversations about space and time. He also met his future wife, Mileva Maric, a fellow physics student from Serbia.

After graduating from the Polytechnic Institute, Albert Einstein faced a series of life crises over the next few years. Because he liked to study on his own, he cut classes and angered some of his professors. One in particular, Heinrich Weber, wrote a letter of recommendation at Einstein’s request but it led to him being rejected for every academic position that he applied to after graduation. Meanwhile, Einstein’s relationship with Maric deepened, but his parents vehemently opposed the relationship, citing her Serbian background and Eastern Orthodox Christian religion. Einstein defied his parents and continued to see Maric. In January, 1902, the couple had a daughter, Lieserl, who either died of sickness or was given up for adoption – the facts are unknown.

At this point, Albert Einstein probably reached the lowest point in his life. He could not marry Maric and support a family without a job, and his father’s business was in bankruptcy. Desperate and unemployed, Einstein took lowly jobs tutoring children, but he was unable to hold on to any of them. A turning point came later in 1902, when the father of his lifelong friend, Marcel Grossman, recommended him for a position as a clerk in the Swiss patent office in Bern, Switzerland. About this time, Einstein’s father became seriously ill and just before he died, gave his blessing for him to marry. With a small but steady income, Einstein married Maric on Jan. 6, 1903. In May, 1904 they had their first son, Hans Albert. Their second son, Eduard, was born in 1910.

As his fame spread, Einstein’s marriage fell apart. His constant travel and intense study of his work, arguments about their children and the family’s limited finances led Einstein to the conclusion that his marriage was over. Einstein began an affair with a cousin, Elsa Löwenthal, whom he later married. He finally divorced Mileva in 1919 and as a settlement agreed to give her the money he might receive if he ever won a Nobel Prize.