From: J. R. Molloy (jr@shasta.com)
Date: Sat Apr 24 1999 - 21:38:26 MDT
From: Gina Miller <echoz@hotmail.com>
>Do you know where his brain is kept? Or where to look online about it?
>I've tried thru the search engines but couldn't come up with
>anything.(Einsteins brain)
Uh-oh... perhaps this borders on urban legend.
From:
http://www.informatics.tuad.ac.jp/net-expo/ff/ff95/news95/comp/en/cf13.html
In 1955, the great scientist Albert Einstein died in Princeton - his express
wish was that his body be cremated, so as to leave no earthly remains. But,
on the day of his death, his brain was secretly removed by doctors at
Princeton Hospital - supposedly for "scientific study." Nearly 40 years
later, no study is complete, and there are only rumors as to whereabouts of
the missing brain. . . . This film follows the quest of an Einstein expert,
Professor Sugimoto Kenji, who travelled from his home in Japan to the USA to
try and find the greatest relic of 20th century science.
From: http://www.physci.psu.edu/~nesbitt/physics/humor/phacts.htm
So whatever became of one of the most famous brains of this century? Well,
when Einstein died in 1955, a doctor removed the famous physicist's brain
for further study. The rest of him was cremated. Legend has it that the
brain was abnormally small. Some said it was the size of a walnut.
Where is it now? One source claims that Einstein's brain is somewhere
floating in a bottle in Weston, Missouri. Carl Sagan claims that it's in
another bottle in Witchita. Perhaps Elvis has had it all along...
From: http://weber.u.washington.edu/~chudler/ein.html
What Became of Albert Einstein's Brain?
On April 18, 1955, the great mathematician and physicist Albert Einstein
died. He was 76 yrs. old. Einstein had requested that his body be cremated
but that his brain be saved and studied for research. Dr. Thomas S. Harvey,
a pathologist at Princeton Hospital, removed Einstein’s brain. What happened
to the brain for years after this is somewhat of a mystery.
In the mid 1970s, Steven Levy, a reporter for the New Jersey Monthly,
hopped into his car and set out to find Einstein’s brain. Mr. Levy published
his story in 1978 and part of ~it can be found on the Internet
<http://www.echonyc.com/steven/einstein.html>. Mr. Levy discovered that
Einstein’s brain was still with Dr. Harvey who was now in Wichita, Kansas.
The brain was in two mason jars in a cardboard box that was marked with the
words "Costa Cider". Most of the brain, except for the cerebellum and parts
of the cerebral cortex, had been sectioned (sliced).
The Paper There are two published scientific studies that have examined
Einstein’s brain. One paper, titled "On the Brain of a Scientist: Albert
Einstein" was published in 1985 in the journal Experimental Neurology (vol.
88, pages 198-204, 1985) and written by Marian C. Diamond
<http://ib.berkeley.edu/faculty/Diamond,MC.html>, Arnold B. Scheibel, Greer
M. Murphy and ...Thomas Harvey! These scientists counted the number of
~neurons (nerve cells) <http://weber.u.washington.edu/chudler/cells.html>
and ~glial cells <http://weber.u.washington.edu/chudler/glia.html> in 4
areas of Einstein’s brain: area 9 of the cerebral cortex on the right and
left hemisphere and area 39 of the cerebral cortex on the right and left
hemisphere. Area 9 is located in the frontal lobe (prefrontal cortex) and is
thought to be important for planning behavior, attention and memory. Area 39
is located in the parietal lobe and is part of the "association cortex".
Area 39 is thought to be involved with language and several other complex
functions. The ratios of neurons to glial cells in Einstein’s brain were
compared to those from the brains of 11 men who died at the average age of
64.
Approximate location of cortical area 9 and area 39
The Data Compared to the brains of the 11 normal men, the ratios of
neurons to glial cells in Einstein’s brain were smaller in all 4 areas
studied. However, when the numbers were examined more closely with
statistics, only 1 area showed a difference - the ratio in the left area 39.
So in the left area 39, Einstein’s brain had fewer neurons to glial cells
than the normal brains. In other words, there were more glial cells for
every neuron in Einstein’s brain.
The Conclusion The authors concluded that the greater number of glial
cells per neuron might indicate the neurons in Einstein’s brain had an
increased "metabolic need" - they needed and used more energy. In this way,
perhaps Einstein had better thinking abilities and conceptual skills.
The Problems Scientists are trained to read published papers carefully and
to evaluate the methods, results and conclusions of experiments. While it is
intriguing to use the results of this paper as an indication that Einstein’s
genius was related to a particular brain region, it is perhaps a bit too
early for such a statement. First, the "normal" brains that were compared
to Einstein’s may not have been the best group for comparison. The average
age of these brains was 12 years younger than Einstein’s brain. In fact, the
youngest brain in this group was only 47 yrs. old. It is possible that the
neuron to glial ratio seen in Einstein’s brain was quite normal for his age
and that the younger comparison group just did not show these changes yet.
Also, the paper did not describe the background of the comparison group.
What was their intelligence and cause of death? Would these factors have
anything to do with the observed brain differences? Second, the
"experimental group" had only 1 subject...Einstein! Additional studies are
needed to see if these anatomical differences are found in other people with
conceptual and mathematical skills like Einstein. Third, it appears that
only a very small portion of the 4 areas of each brain was studied. The
paper states that "Four to six sections were cut from each block, Einstein’s
and the controls’." However, after staining, only ONE section from each
block was studied! There is no indication that this single thin section was
obtained from similar regions of area 39 and area 9 from the different
brains. It is even unclear how much of each section was counted. Moreover,
only the ratio of neurons to glial cells are published. The total number of
cells that were counted is not given in the paper. This is important to get
an idea of how the experimenters came to their conclusions. It is important
to remember that the areas 9 and 39 make important connections with many
other areas of the brain. To assign a particular behavior or personality to
a single brain area is too simple. Parts of the brain do not act by
themselves. Rather, complex behavior is the result of many areas acting
together.
A Second Paper and The Future A second paper describing Einstein's brain
was published in 1996. Einstein's brain weighed only 1,230 grams which is
far less than the average adult male brain (about 1,400 grams). The authors
also reported that the thickness of Einstein's cerebral cortex (area 9) was
thinner than that of five control brains. However, the DENSITY of neurons in
Einstein's brain was greater. In other words, Einstein was able to pack more
neurons in a given area of cortex. The importance of these differences is
still unknown. There are still many questions about how the brain constructs
personality, builds intelligence and forms creativity. Perhaps future
studies of the brains of other geniuses will reveal what makes these people
such giants.
From: http://www-writing.berkeley.edu/storyspace/Pamela/brain_762.html
EINSTEIN'S BRAIN
Albert Einstein's brain has been considered a museum exhibition.
Physiologists saw his brain as the most unusual piece of body tissue of
one's body because of its outstanding work. They wondered, what was so
different in his brain that made Einstein as the best contributor to
twentieth century physics. What was the mythical value of his brain that
grabbed so much attentions.
>From one example about testing Einstein's brain capacity in order to measure
his intelligence, physiologists asked him to think of the theory of
relativity. However the test failed the physiologists. His brain was not
different from other people. Nevertheless, physiologists did not give up
easily. They firmly believed that inside of his brain cells was the
inspiration to his achievements. Friedman and Donley wrote in their book,
Einstein As Myth And Muse, "the mythology of Einstein shows him as a genius
so lacking in magic that one speaks about his thoughts as of a functional
labour analogous to the mechanical making of sausages, the grinding of corn
or the crushing of ore: he used to produce thoughts."(6)
Einstein's brain was the machine that produced equations and formulas. From
those equations and formulas, he made inventions that advanced our lives. We
still believe that Einstein's brain was a mythological object of the
twentieth century even though physiologists failed to give us a strong
proof.
"Reality resides in the eye of the unbeliever."
--Gustaf Puchipoopoo
`°º¤,ô¿ô,¤º°``°º¤,ô¿ô,¤º°``°º¤,ô¿ô,¤º°``°º¤,ô¿ô,¤º°`
--J. R.
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