Albert Einstein's Brain

Have you ever wondered what was different about Albert Einstein’s brain? a new study led by Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk, may have some answers. The study, The Cerebral Cortex of Albert Einstein: A Description and Preliminary Analysis of Unpublished Photographs, (published in the journal Brain), includes some interesting information. For example, photographs of Einstein’s brain, taken shortly after he died, were recently uncovered by the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Spring, Maryland. They were part of a donation from the estate of Thomas Harvey, the pathologist who took the photos. According to Falk, "Although the overall size and asymmetrical shape of Einstein's brain were normal, the prefrontal, somatosensory, primary motor, parietal, temporal and occipital cortices were extraordinary.” Einstein’s extraordinary prefrontal cortex may have contributed to some of his remarkable cognitive abilities.