Chapter 2 is concerned with Mandelstam's life from his birth to his departure from Strasbourg, 1879–1914. It contains a sketch of the history of Strasbourg university where Mandelstam had been educated and started his career. This chapter also introduces two figures with whom Mandelstam's personal trajectory had crossed in Strasbourg: Mandelstam's scientific supervisor and then his chief Ferdinand Braun and Mandelstam's life-long friend R. von Mises. Ferdinand Braun's philosophy, which influenced on Mandelstam's world view, is specially described.