What was wrong with Einstein’s brain?
When he died, Einstein was cremated, but not completely. Thomas Harvey, who performed the autopsy, managed to capture the brain of this German scientist, humanist, and writer.
In fact, Harvey kept it, albeit without the family’s consent (he stole it, that is). He stored it in a large glass jar and took it home. Over the years, little by little, Harvey sent samples of this unique organ to nearly two dozen neuroscientists and researchers of the time (only the best, of course), although the reality is that they didn’t obtain any truly concrete results, or results with complete scientific validity; only six articles were published.
Until recently, some secrets of the brain were revealed, the most important of which were:
- It weighed 1230 grams, making it a smaller brain than average (1400 grams).
- His prefrontal cortex, which houses skills of concentration, planning and perseverance, was exceptionally developed.
- In some parts of the brain, there was an abnormally high density of neurons and glial cells (which support neurons).
- His parietal lobes were abnormal. These lobes are responsible for symbolic thought, language skills, mathematical reasoning, and spatial orientation.
- The corpus callosum in Einstein’s brain was thicker than usual, which facilitated communication between the cerebral hemispheres.
Studying a single brain to understand human genius is, scientifically, worthless in terms of results. The best way to do this is to study several brains of geniuses, compare them, and then publish good results.
Thank you very much for reading me.
-M-
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