So they were right after all. Einstein's brain was different. Researchers studying Albert Einstein's brain have found that the German-born theoretical physicist may have been so brilliant because his left and right brain hemispheres were so well connected.
"This study, more than any other to date, really gets at the 'inside' of Einstein's brain," Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk said. "It provides new information that helps make sense of what is known about the surface of Einstein's brain."
The human brain is composed of two hemispheres: the right, and the left. The right is more inclined towards empirical functions such as math, while the left deals more with language, art and the more abstract portion of life. The corpus callosum is a bundle of nerves that connects the two hemispheres and provides an important role in determining how the two halves of a person's mind work together. The theory goes that more is better.
The scientists were able to map out Einstein's brain with a new technique showing off the thickness of the corpus callosum. Seems that Einstein had plenty — enough for the researchers to title the study, which appears in the journal Brain, "The corpus callosum of Albert Einstein's brain: another clue to his intelligence?"
"This technique should be of interest to other researchers who study the brain's all-important internal connectivity," Falk said.
Albert Einstein is a well-known physicist whose achievements include helping sculpt the theory of relativity, which he first began touching upon as a lowly patent clerk in Switzerland.