The Riddle Of Einstein's Brain

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The Riddle of Einstein's Brain

• Tasneem Rawashdeh
• 22/Oct/2012

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A weird story about the journey of Einsteins
brainAlbert Einstein was one of the greatest
journeys of mind in history of the world, which
ended in 1955
Tasneem Rawashdeh
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• A weird story about the journey of Einsteins
  brain After hours of Eintseins death, his mind
  disappeared.A mysterious case about the man who
  was accused of stealing Einstein's brain..
• Did he have a unique brain?
• Two scientists decided to solve the mystery
  of Einsteins genius.
• Did his brain solve the mystery?
• Does the intelligence lie in
• the adipose tissues which
• weigh 1.25 kilograms or
• is there a mental mystery
• that can never be identified
• and gained?

Tasneem Rawashdeh
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The pathologist Thomas Stoltz Harvery
Einstein's autopsy

• The brain was conducted in by pathologist Thomas
• Stoltz Harvey.
• Harvey removed, weighed and dissected
• Einstein's brain into several pieces some of the
  pieces he kept to himself while others were given
  to leading pathologists.

He hoped that cytoarchitectonics would reveal
useful information. Harvey photographed the
brain from many angles. He then dissected it
into about 240 blocks and encased the segments
in a plastic-like material called collodion.
Tasneem Rawashdeh
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Thomas Harvey

• Thomas said Some thought I desecrated the body
  of Einstein
• Did he want to save one of the
• Greatest minds?
• Or
• Did he commit one the most
• heinous crimes?

Tasneem Rawashdeh
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• Einstein and the Violin
• In his childhood Einstein was fond of music.
• I often think of music, I live my daydreaming
  through music, and if I were not a physicist I
  would probably be a musician

But his life changed when he was given a book
about engineering.
Tasneem Rawashdeh
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What made Einstein a genius ?

• The neurophysiologist Dr Mark Lythgoe

and the physicist Dr Jim
Al-Khalili
between the physical
tried to discover whether there is a correlation
and the potential for genius by studying the
preserved
appearance of the brain
brain of Albert Einstein.
Dr Jim Al-Khalili
Dr Mark Lythgoe
Tasneem Rawashdeh
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The perspectives of the two doctors about the
reason behind Einsteins genius

• Dr Mark It is known that many parts of the
  brain are like muscles therefore, we can increase
  their abilities, so if our brains work like
  muscles
• Do all of us have the potential to become
  Einstein ?
• What created Einsteins thoughts is the brain and
  for sure there are some parts left.
• Dr Jim The brain is like a skeleton it has
  natural limits.
• Einsteins genius is in his thoughts and
  imaginations therefore, we cant find thoughts
  stored in containers.

Tasneem Rawashdeh
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The study of professor Marian C.
Tasneem Rawashdeh
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The study of professor Marian C.

• The science of brain focuses only on the neurons
  and ignores the other cells in the brain.
• Glial cells, which act as electric factors, they
  isolate and repair neurons in place, increase the
  speed of pulses and repair brains complex
  circuits.
• Professor Marian discovered through her
  experiences that rats that are left isolated,
  their glial cells dont grow significantly as
  much as the rats that exercise and play with
  other rats.
• The glial cells are very important for the mental
  development.

Tasneem Rawashdeh
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The study and analysis of Einsteins brain by
Professor Marian C.

• In the 1980s, University of California, Berkeley.
• Harvey gave her samples of Einstein's brain.
• She used a microscope to count the glial cells.
• Einstein's brain had more glial cells relative to
  neurons in all areas studied,
• but only in the left inferior parietal area was
  the difference statistically significant.
• This area is part of the association cortex,
• regions of the brain responsible for
  incorporating and synthesizing information from
  multiple other brain regions.
• Glial cells provide support and nutrition in the
  brain, form myelin, and participate in signal
  transmission.

Tasneem Rawashdeh
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Mr. Michio Kaku

• Einstein was asked about the reason of his
  genius. He said he used to ask himself some
  childish questions.
• Ex. If the current time is 1200 o'clock on
  earth, would it be the same on Venus or Mars?
• He spent years trying to find answers for his
  questions ..

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• "I simply imagine it so, then go about to prove
  it." -- Albert Einstein
• Imagination is more important than knowledge.
• For knowledge is limited to all we now know and
  understand,
• while imagination embraces the entire world, and
  all there ever will be to know and understand.
  -- Albert Einstein

Who needs socks when you might have more glial
cells
Tasneem Rawashdeh
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Autism

• some professional psychiatrists say that Einstein
  was a high functioning autistic because Albert
  Einstein didn't speak until he was four, and not
  fluently in his own language until he was eight
  or nine. 
• An autistic brain has a cerebrum larger than
  normal, and a cerebellum smaller than normal. An
  autopsy of Einstein's brain showed that
  Einstein's cerebrum was indeed larger than normal
  (like an autistic brain). Unfortunately however,
  they did not reveal the size of his cerebellum.
  .

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• While Einsteins brain weighed 1,230 grams,
• which is within normal human range,
• the brain had no parietal operculum in either
  hemisphere and had an enlarged Sylvan fissure.
• Certain parts of his brain also had more glial
  cells in relation to neurons.

Tasneem Rawashdeh
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• Finally, in 1998, Harvey returned Einstein's
  brain
• to the pathologist at Princeton Hospital.

Tasneem Rawashdeh
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• Einsteins genius riddle has been practically
  solved. But from my personal point of view,
  although we know now what was the reason behind
  the high level of concentration. We cant bear it
  again, the genius that has come up with all the
  ideas and theories simply died. And Einstein will
  stay one great journey of mind that changed many
  of our conceptions of life.

Tasneem Rawashdeh