Einstein was awarded a degree.
Albert Einstein . Between 1895 and 1914 he lived in Switzerland ( except for one year in Prague , 1911 -- 12 ) , where he received his academic diploma from the Swiss Federal Polytechnic in Zürich ( later the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule , ETH ) in 1900 . In the United States , the PhD degree is the highest academic degree awarded by universities in most fields of study .