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- The secret of Einstein's immense intellect
may finally have been uncovered - one area of his brain was significantly
different than most people's.
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- "Within seven hours of his death
his brain was removed and preserved"Albert Einstein, who discovered
the theory of relativity, died in 1955, aged 76. His brain was then removed
and preserved for scientific research.
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- Scientists at McMaster University, Ontario,
Canada compared the shape and size Einstein's brain with those of 35 men
and 56 women with average intelligence.
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- They think their findings may well explain
his genius for mathematical and spatial thinking.
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- In general, Einstein's brain was the
same as all the others except in one particular area - the region responsible
for mathematical thought and the ability to think in terms of space and
movement.
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- Extensive development of this region
meant that Einstein's brain was 15% wider than the other brains studied.
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- Uniquely, Einstein's brain also lacked
a groove that normally runs through part of this area. The researchers
suggest that its absence may have allowed the neurons to communicate much
more easily.
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- "This unusual brain anatomy may
explain why Einstein thought the way he did," said Professor Sandra
Witelson, who led the research published in the Lancet.
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- "Einstein's own description of his
scientific thinking was that words did not seem to play a role. Instead
he saw more or less clear images of a visual kind," she said.
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- Einstein allowed his brain to be studied
after his death. The idea that differing abilities are determined by physical
differences in the structure of the brain is currently of great interest
to scientists.
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- "To say there is a definite link
is one bridge too far, at the moment," said Professor Laurie Hall,
a brain imaging expert from the University of Cambridge.
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- "So far the case isn't proven.
But magnetic resonance and other new technologies are allowing us to start
to probe those very questions."
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- The researchers hope that the study will
encourage the donation of brain specimens from other gifted individuals.
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