human development

Physicist Albert Einstein's brain had an "extraordinary" prefrontal cortex - unlike those of most people - which may have contributed to his remarkable genius, a new study has claimed.

According to the study led by Florida State University evolutionary anthropologist Dean Falk, portions of Einstein's brain have been found to be unlike those of most people and could be related to his extraordinary cognitive abilities.

Falk and his colleagues describe for the first time the entire cerebral cortex of Einstein's brain from an examination of 14 recently discovered photographs.

The researchers compared Einstein's brain to 85 "normal" human brains and, in light of current functional imaging studies, interpreted its unusual features.

"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.

"These may have provided the neurological underpinnings for some of his visuospatial and mathematical abilities, for instance," said Falk. The study was published in the journal Brain. On Einstein's death in 1955, his brain was removed and photographed from multiple angles with the permission of his family. Furthermore, it was sectioned into 240 blocks from which histological slides were prepared.

A great majority of the photographs, blocks and slides were lost from public sight for more than 55 years. The 14 photographs used by the researchers now are held by the National Museum of Health and Medicine.

The study also published the "roadmap" to Einstein's brain prepared in 1955 by Dr Thomas Harvey to illustrate the locations within his previously whole brain of 240 dissected blocks of tissue, which provides a key to locating the origins within the brain of the newly emerged histological slides.