Speaking of intelligent from part 1 of this post (click HERE), in science, we have Albert Einstein and Stephen Hawking. In music, we have Glenn Gauld. Too many geniuses in this world, and therefore, I really wanted to understand how different is their brain compared to ours. I have decided to read on some articles related to Einstein's brain and I found some really interesting facts of his brain.


Caption: a portrait of Albert Einstein

Back around a decade ago, in 1999, I have read an article in the readers digest, stating that the usage of brain cells are recognised in % basis. These % usage of the brain will determine the intelligent level of a person. An example was given: a high-school student's brain should normally contain 5%. However, it was stated that Einstein's brain contained 44%. If so, in mathematical calculation, Einstein is 8.8 times more intelligent than an average high-school student.



Caption: Einstein agreed that his brain to be analysed after death

Harvey Thomas (a pathologist in Princeton) splitted Einstein's brain in 240 pieces and kept it in a few jars in his car. According to Thomas, his brain looks a little shrunken, probably due to aging and therefore, it is slightly smaller than average. But anyway, as stated in a previous post (click HERE), the size of a person's brain will not determine his intelligent level. In other word, the size of a brain will not affect their intelligence. Later in 1980, a neurologist from California University (US) analysed some section of Einstein's brain, partly from the prefrontal and parietal lobes. What amazing is that the scientist found that Einstein's brain contained more glial cells (glial cells: non-neuronal cells that serve as support cells in the nervous system and help to protect neurons) to neurons (also known as nerve cell: a cell that is specialized to conduct nerve impulses). Glial cells are originally thought to only provide energy and resources for human. After the experiment, we now understand that glial cells are involved in neural processing and signal transmission. It is surprising that the amount of glial cells in Einstein's left parietal region were doubled compared to normal human. Some research indicated that damaging the left parietal of our brain will cause Gerstmann's Syndrome (difficulties with mathematical calculations/ writting formulae). Therefore, eminent neuro scientists believe that this region of the brain is important for visuo-spatial cognition.


Caption: brain stucture and regions

Einstein claimed to be dyslexic (a symptom of impairment in the ability to recognise words or difficulties in learning to read), with poor memory for words. There are possibilities that damaging the left parietal region in the brain may cause dyslexia, proven in many neurosciences research. Therefore, the low neuron-to-glial in this region may result in verbal difficulties rather than reasoning skills. Parietal lobe of the brain is responsible for processing sensory input (i.e. what we see, taste, smell, listen) and sensory discrimination. It is also called the ‘association area’. It is also responsible to receive and utilize from the lower levels of the brain (human brain has upper and lower level, and will be explained in the next few posts), any information of temperature, taste, touch, and movement from the rest of the body such as distance and position of objects. It is also responsible for reading and arithmetic (mathematics).


Caption: in-depth brain structure (cortex)

Another study in mid 1990 was conducted to look at the cortical tissues from Einstein's right prefrontal lobe. This lobe of our brain deals with working memory (short term and long term memory), planning, decision-making and motor coordination (communication between the brain and limbs). The scientist from Alabama University reported that the number and size of neurons in this region of the brain remained normal, but the cortex size was thinner than average. Supposely the cortex size of a person is 2.6 millimetres. Einstein's cortex size was reported to be thinner by 0.5 millimetres. This means that the cortical neurons (nerve cells that make up the cortex of the brain) in his brain were more densely packed than other people's brain. In general, the thinner size of the cortex may result in closer and speed-up communication between neurons.


Caption: a picture of Einstein's Brain (by National Geographic)

By the end of 1990's, Witelson (a neurologist) studied Einstein's brain again. He found that Einstein's brain are normal, except for his parietal lobes. He explained that the size of Einstein's parietal lobe is approximately 15% wider than average, producing a more spherical shape. He also found that a person's brain are asymetrical (parts in a brain is not similar in shape/size), but Einstein's parietal lobes were symmetrical (same in shape/size).


Caption: upper view of Einstein's Brain


Caption: left and right view of Einstein's Brain

The combination of the three different findings in the above have proven the differences of intelligence of a person. Though John Sweller (a famous cognitive scientist) suggests the distinction between expert and novice in learning will mainly rely on the aspects related to memory configuration: (1) how a person solve a problem, and (2) features used in categorising different problems, I assume there are much more areas for analyses although the key factors appointed by Sweller (memory region) seemed to have some interrelation to different lobes of the brain. For me, this areas (combination of cognitive and neuro psychology) are worth looking by researcher if you are planning for a PhD research.