Einstein didn't magically one day woke up and jump on relativity theory. He had prerequisites in terms of recent mathematical advancements (notation) and physic

Einstein didn't magically one day woke up and jump on relativity theory. He had prerequisites in terms of recent mathematical advancements (notation) and physical discoveries, and a job exposing him to a lot of lateral thinking, and time to bounce ideas around in his head. We don't know how many fruitless jumps he made before making one that we remember him for.