The financial standing of his parents (his father, Ludwig, was a clerk in a bank and his mother, Anna Dieck, came from a wealthy family) enabled him to receive a quality education. From 1895 to 1904 he attended the Gymnasium at Altona, where his performance attracted the attention of his headmaster, a relative of an eminent mathematician of that time,
David Hilbert. Weyl soon found himself at the University of Göttingen where Hilbert was an instructor. He remained there for the rest of his student days, with the exception of a semester at the University of Munich. He received his degree under Hilbert in 1908 and advanced to the ranks of privatdocent (an unpaid but licensed instructor) in 1910.
Weyl married Helene Joseph (known as Hella to the family) in 1913 and in the same year took a position as professor at the National Technical University (ETH) in Zurich, Switzerland. He declined the offer to be Felix Klein's successor at Göttingen, despite the university's central role in the mathematical world. It has been suggested that he wanted to free himself, somewhat, of the influence of Hilbert, especially in light of the fact that he had accepted an invitation to take a chair at Göttingen when Hilbert retired.
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