The Einstein Fountain stands near the old Arsenal (Zeughaus) at the edge of the city centre — a small, deliberately strange monument to Ulm's most famous native son. Albert Einstein's head protrudes from a snail shell that is perched on a rocket, with the iconic tongue-out expression from the famous 1951 photograph. It is the work of local artist Jürgen Goertz.
The fountain is fun and self-aware, acknowledging that Ulm's connection to Einstein is largely theoretical — he left the city as an infant and barely knew it. Near the fountain, a plaque marks the approximate site of the house on Bahnhofstrasse where he was born, destroyed by Allied bombing in 1944. A small Einstein Museum opened in 2024 in the Altstadt with documents and displays about his life and work.