We all want to learn more about Albert Einstein, don’t we? Most of us, including scientists spanning the globe, would suspect that the physicist had something special about his brain, something that helped to boost his intelligence.
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Scientists have been wondering about this ever sinceEinstein uttered something in German (the nurse had no idea what he said), took his last breath, and past away on April 18th, 1955. They then cremated Einstein, but not all of him. Einstein’s son, Hans Albert, learned that his father’s brain had been taken away for scientific purposes! Oh, dear.
Where did it go? Well, Dr Thomas Harvey, the man performing the autopsy, had cut open Einstein’s cranium and took parts of the genius’s brain. Einstein’s son wasn’t too pleased, but Harvey eventually convinced Albert to let him work on the physicist’s brain.
Harvey wasn’t actually neurologist, but he said he would ask specialists to study the brain. Everyone wanted to know if there was something special about Einstein’s brain. Some people found things, while others say that there’s nothing different about it.
Some people found that Einstein’s brain had more glial cells than others. What are glial cells? BBC describes them:
'Glial cells - which get their name from the Greek for ‘glue’ - fix neurons into place and keep them supplied with oxygen and nutrients.'
However, the National Geographic notes that:
'if given the chance, scientists would pore over his brain’s neurons and glia, sulci and gyri, and make grand pronouncements about what makes a genius. And he knew it would be bullshit.'
So why was Einstein’s brain afterlife weird? Tune into our video to find out where his brain lived for a while!
