Albert Einstein

To mark the 60th anniversary of the death of Albert Einstein we tell the story of what happened to his brain.

Einstein’s work is known for its influence on the philosophy of science and he developed the general theory of relativity, considered to be one of the two pillars of modern physics.

Graham Easton talks to one of the doctors who has studied part of the physicist’s brain and he says Albert Einstein was different to the average person.

Albert Einstein was unique.

Neuroscientists, along with pretty much everyone else, have long suspected that the brain of Albert Einstein was somehow unique. A new study now affirms these suspicions, showing that his genius may have arisen from the way the hemispheres of his brain were so freakishly well connected.

After Albert Einstein died, his brain was removed and photographed from multiple and unconventional angles. His brain was also sectioned into 240 blocks, from which many slides were created.

During the autopsy, conducted at Princeton Hospital, a pathologist named Thomas Harvey removed Einstein’s brain — the brain that had given the world such revolutionary thoughts as E=mc², the theory of relativity, an understanding of the speed of light and the idea that led to the completion of the atomic bomb. Harvey held the brain that produced those thoughts in his hands. And then he took it.

Picture credit to Thomas Harvey and Wikipedia.

We look at how families with children who have rare and life-threatening diseases are taking on the medical profession and pharmaceutical industry by commissioning research themselves.

And we ask: how good are face masks at preventing us from getting infections?

Healthcheck is produced by the BBC World service and presented by Graham Easton and is available on Phuket Island radio every Sunday morning at 8 am Thai time.