WASHINGTON - It was, without doubt, one of the finest minds of all time. Now scientists have proved that Albert Einstein's brain was not only unique in its ability to process concepts: it was also physically different.
Research comparing the characteristics of Einstein's brain with that of four men of
similar age has found remarkable structural differences.
The brain of the great mathematician, who died at the age of 76 in 1955, possessed a greater number of glial cells, suggesting that Einstein's brain needed and used more energy. The job of glial cells is to provide support for neurones, and as a result it may have generated more processing ability.
The density of neurones in Einstein's brain is greater, too, and the cerebral cortex is thinner than the brains to which it was compared.
Einstein's brain also has an unusual pattern of grooves in an area thought to be involved in mathematical skills, and is 15 per cent wider.
However, researchers in Argentina and the United States said that the brain structure shouldn't be seen as a marker of intelligence in isolation.
"In a species with a heavily socially moulded brain and mind ... the full expression of an individual special aptitude depends on multiple genetic and environmental factors."
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