Albert Einstein's Brain: Unusual in Life and Anatomy

Was Albert Einstein's unique cognitive ability reflected in anatomical variations in his brain? In this study of his brain's external morphology, these authors demonstrate an unusual variation: One of the posterior ascending branches of the sylvian fissure is confluent with the postcentral gyrus, and therefore there is no parietal operculum. This variant of gyral patterns is extremely rare in humans and was not found in their sample of 35 male and 56 female control brains. Einstein's parietal lobe is wider than those of the controls, and his brain is more spherical. Despite the "missing" parietal operculum, the authors did not do cytological studies of these areas. They postulated that Einstein's posterior parietal lobes developed early, "r…