What scientists did with Albert Einstein's brain

Albert Einstein (1879-1955) was a genius and outstanding scientist in the history of human development. He made great contributions to general relativity as one of the two pillars of modern physics.

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Albert Einstein was the author of the world's most famous equation, the equation for the relationship between mass and energy E = mc2 and was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921 for the work of discovering the effect. photovoltaic, the turning point gives birth to light quantum theory. In addition, he has made significant contributions to laying a solid foundation for many other sciences and especially space science. He was also an important influence on the later manufacture and operation of atomic energy.

All of his contributions stem from non-stop thoughts and ideas within an exceptional brain: a genius brain is hard to match. The stories revolve around life and his research has always been a topic explored and explored by scientists. Even scientists always want to explain what causes such an outstanding brain. Of course, many researchers tried to study his brain after his death. However, it is still a mystery that has no satisfactory answer.

Photo of Einstein 13 months before his death

It is the adventure of pathologist Thomas Harvey with his partner, bringing Einstein's brain through many different lands to discover the mysteries hidden in that super-brain. The process will receive the help of two female neurologists in the field of neurology, Diamond and Witelson. Does the ultimate mystery get discovered? Invite you to track offline.

It all began with pathologist Thomas Harvey at Princeton Hospital

In his later years, Albert Einstein knew his condition well and refused all medical measures to try to save him. He only had one last wish: 'I want to be cremated so no one can come, so no one will worship me and worship me .' Einstein died April 18, 1955 at the age of 76 due to an aneurysm leading to And the desire at the end of his life was done: his body was cremated and the ashes were scattered on a secret place and never revealed. So, his brain is a completely different matter.

The last moments of life on Albert Einstein's bed

During an autopsy performed at Princeton Hospital, a pathologist named Thomas Harvey separated and retained Einstein's brain - the brain created a revolution in physics with the equation E = mc2, relativity, understanding of the speed of light and the idea of ​​implementing atomic bombs. Dr. Harvey has saved Einstein's genius brain and kept it to himself.

Many lines of mixed opinion have arisen when everyone knows Harvey's actions. There is an opinion that this is merely a great study for science, and there is an opinion that this is an act of violating the body of the deceased and nothing more than a tomb.

At the time of his life, Einstein was involved in many studies to determine if his brain was anything other than a normal person. Some even claimed that Einstein had intended to donate his gray matter after his death for research purposes. Others argue that Einstein doesn't want to donate any part of his body and Harvey's brain-taking is a serious insult.

The box contains 42 pieces of Einstein's brain in Philadelphia in 2011

In some ways, Einstein's will was fulfilled: his body was cremated and no one could worship his brain because only Harvey knew the brain was being stored. hold where. After easing public opinion around his actions, and under the permission of his son Einstein, he began to conduct research on Einstein's brain on the condition that the results of the study must be published in the Prestigious science magazine.

At first, Harvey thought it would not take much time to thoroughly understand Einstein's brain and its differences from other normal brains. Harvey thinks that a genius brain will be very far from a normal human brain. However, after four years of research from Einstein's death, Harvey had no research results. And he disappeared with the brain. Some argue that Harvey is not able to study because he is just a pathologist and not a neurologist.

Dr. Marian Diamond's attempt on the brain of Elbert Einstein. Are glial cells the cause of the problem?

According to the information, when he was just born, Albert Einstein's mother was surprised when her son had a head with a large and angular size. However, when Einstein died, his brain size was no greater than that of any other person of the same age. During the autopsy, Dr. Harvey identified Einstein's brain weighing 1.22 kilograms. Harvey took pictures of the brain, then cut it into 240 small pieces and preserved it in Celloidin, a common chemical in brain preservation and research techniques.

Dr. Marian Diamond, the different physicist of Einstein's brain, is based on glial cells

Harvey wants to send small samples of the brain to other scientists from around the world to work on the research with him. The participating experts will send the results back to Harvey and will be publicized so that the world can know the mysteries within a genius brain.

Then there is a long waiting period of Harvey and the whole world. Einstein's brain is of normal size and the number of brain cells is about the same size as many others. Still, Harvay persevered with his belief that someone would discover something. Whenever asked about research results, Harvey answered that only 1 year or longer, there will definitely be something discovered. At that time, it was reported that Harvey was living in Kansas and Einstein's brain was placed in a vase in a beer cooler.

Then, in 1985, Harvey finally had something to report to the community. Dr. Marian Diamond from the University of California at Berkeley is working on the plastic properties of mouse brains. Dr. Diamond's research shows that rats living in a richer environment will have a stronger brain. Specifically, mice with multiple glial cells are associated with neurons. Diamond found that the result could be applied to study Einstein's brain.

Images depicting glial cells

Gilal cells have a buffering function and provide nutrients for neurons to work, enabling brain cells to communicate with each other. In some cases, glial cells also perform hygiene functions for neurons. When neurons communicate with each other, they produce waste in the form of potassium ions. Potassium ions will continuously pile on each other outside neurons.

If the amount of waste is too large, it will affect the ability of neurons to communicate and a mechanism is required to eliminate it. And it is glial cells that perform the function of cleaning neurons to make sure they are always clean and functioning best. In addition, glial cells also help the pathways between the neurons clear, helping to ensure that the communication lines between nerve cells are not blocked.

When Dr. Diamond received Einstein's brain to do the research, she compared it to the other 11 brain samples. Diamond has reported that Einstein's brain has a higher rate of glial cells than other brains. She hypothesized that the number of glial cells in Einstein's brain would increase to serve the great metabolic needs of neurons. In other words, Einstein needed more glial cells to clean up the waste during his continuous thinking process.

Unfortunately, other scientists argue that Dr. Diamond's conclusion is unfounded and unrecognized. Moreover, the glial cells are constantly divided throughout their lives. Although Einstein died at the age of 76, Diamond compared his brain to the brains of people with an average age of 64. Therefore, Einstein's neuronal cells were, of course, more than those others are younger. In addition, brain samples collected by Diamond originated from patients at VA hospital.

Although Diamond reports, patients die from causes that are not related to neurological problems, but the personal history of those patients is not clear, especially the IQ score. they. Another scientist pointed out that Dr. Diamond's measurement method is only one of 28 ways to measure the number of cells. Diamond also admitted that she did not take into account the universality of her research.

Scientists claim that the more you conduct research on the larger number of individuals and apply more and more methods (larger sample sizes), the more likely you will be to comment or reject a property. somehow with higher accuracy (statistical significance in scientific research).

At this point, everything seemed to clear up and continued to fall into the mystery. Will scientists give up? Researcher Thomas Harvey but has anything new discovered? Let's explore below.

Mystery solved? What did Dr. Sandra Witelson discover?

Dr. Diamond was unable to protect his work due to shortcomings in the implementation process. In 1996, a University of Alabama researcher, Britt Anderson, published another study on Einstein's brain with a more thorough implementation. Anderson discovered that Einstein's prefrontal cortex was thinner than a normal person but had more rigid neurons.

Anderson reported the results of his research to Thomas Harvey, who is a researcher at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. During the study period, Harvey was the one who discovered the difference in neuron density on the cortex between men and women. Accordingly, men's brains are larger in size, while women's brains have more closely distributed neurons. That explains why women are more likely to communicate faster than men.

Harvey sent a fax to Dr. Sandra Witelson who is also working at McMaster University. The telegram content is only one line: ' Are you willing to work with me to study Albert Einstein's brain?'. Dr. Witelson is a well-known researcher with many brain-related studies such as IQ, factors affecting examination and human psychology, etc. Witelson has agreed to cooperate in the research of the ministry. Einstein's brain.

Neuroscientist Dr. Sandra Witlson, who hypothesized for the speciality of Einstein's brain based on the difference in grooves Sylivan

Witelson's research was carried out in a better condition than Dr. Diamond because by that time, the understanding of brain scientists had taken a big step forward with the number of index databases. IQ is quite rich. Witelson used 35 male brains with an average IQ of 116 and 56 female brains as a means of comparing Einstein's brain. This is a sufficient number of samples to make scientific conclusions. Dr. Witelson and the doctors and nurses collected the number of test samples over the years to have enough quantities to carry out their research. This is the largest study in this area.

Harvey moved to Canada and Dr. Witelson was allowed to use up to a fifth of Einstein's brain to study, more than any previous scientist. She chose the area of ​​the temporal and parietal lobes of the brain and used photographs taken by Dr. Havey at the time of Einstein's death to serve her research. Witelson found that the Sylvian groove on Einstein's brain was virtually non-existent. The Sylvian groove separates the parietal lobe of the brain into two separate compartments and the absence of this dividing line makes Einstein's parietal lobe larger than the average person by 15 percent.

According to research by scientists, the apical lobe is responsible for handling mathematical skills, spatial reasoning and 3-dimensional shapes. This seems perfectly suited to the areas and successes of Einstein's genius research. This also explains Einstein's unique thoughts and fantasies that later became his discoveries. During the discovery of general relativity, Einstein imagined that he was driving on a beam of light through the universe. From those imaginary images, he searched for words to describe his thoughts and relativism was born.

Sylvian groove image on human brain

Dr. Witelson hypothesized that Sylvian's lack of grooves allowed brain cells to grow closer, thereby allowing them to communicate with each other faster than usual. It is this brain structure that also explains Einstein's stuttering cause as well as that of others. If Einstein knew his brain was different from other people, would he be absent from school?

At that time, scientists still did not understand how the brain worked, so it was impossible to verify the accuracy of Dr. Witelson's study. Although, that is the right research on the theoretical side. For some external shapes, Einstein's brain may be normal, but with only a small transformation, it may be an expression of a true genius. However, scientists have not yet verified the hypothesis in absolute terms because it has yet to find a brain similar to Einstein: the brain of the person with the same IQ as him. All research and hypotheses are based on average brains.

Interim. Everything back to where it started. The mystery is still waiting for scientists to continue answering

Harvey has never given up his belief that one day, the brain will reveal the truths hidden within. At the end of his life, after traveling through many different countries, he returned to where it all started: Princeton Hospital. He gave Einstein's brain to an old partner, writer Michael Paterniti, who went with Harvey and the brain across different countries. Paterniti wrote the book entitled 'Driving With Mr.Albert'. The book, like Harvey's autobiography, tells the story of the pathologist's journey to find answers to his questions.

Thomas Harvey and Einstein's brain model

In the end, Harvey still hasn't had the chance to witness the secrets behind Einstein's decoded brain. He died in 2007 when he was 94 years old. And finally, Einstein and the mysteries surrounding his brain are still there. We continue to wait for the research of later scientists to be able to solve the mystery. Hopefully, with the advancement of science and technology today, we will have answers in the near future.