Well-Connected Hemispheres of Einstein's Brain May Have Sparked His Brilliance
The left and right hemispheres of Albert Einstein’s brain were unusually well connected to each other and may have contributed to his brilliance, according to a new study.
“This study, more than any other to date, really gets at the ‘inside’ of Einstein’s brain,” said Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk. “It provides new information that helps make sense of what is known about the surface of Einstein’s brain.”
Lead author Weiwei Men of East China Normal University’s Department of Physics developed a new technique to conduct the study, which is the first to detail Einstein’s corpus callosum, the brain’s largest bundle of fibers that connects the two cerebral hemispheres and facilitates interhemispheric communication.
“This technique should be of interest to other researchers who study the brain’s all-important internal connectivity,” Falk said.
In particular, this new technique permitted registration and comparison of Einstein's measurements with those of two samples — one of 15 elderly men and one of 52 men Einstein’s age in 1905. During his so-called “miracle year” at 26 years old, Einstein published four articles that contributed substantially to the foundation of modern physics and changed the world’s views about space, time, mass and energy.
The research team’s findings show that Einstein had more extensive connections between certain parts of his cerebral hemispheres compared to both younger and older control groups. -- Florida State University
Reference:
Weiwei Men, D. Falk, "The Corpus Callosum of Albert Einstein's Brain: Another Clue to His High Intelligence," published in the journal Brain.
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