Albert Einstein – He has been called the greatest mind of the 20th century

Hamilton, Ontario – You never know what interesting stories lie behind university walls. At McMaster University in Hamilton (Alma mater of Ivan Reitman, John Candy, Eugene Levy, Martin Short, Dave Thomas and Doug Henning) a professor named Dr. Sandra Witelson has been studying Albert Einstein’s brain.

Pathologist Thomas Harvey, who conducted the autopsy on Einstein’s body, delivered the brain (actually about 1/5  of his brain in 14 little pieces), driving it across the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls  at midnight in 1995 (L.A. Times story).

In 1999 McMaster University reported that they had identified differences in the brain of Albert Einstein that may be related to his genius in spatial and mathematical thinking. Read the release.

York University has said “Canadian scientists analyzed Einstein’s brain in 1999 and revealed that it had some distinctive physical characteristics after all. A portion of the brain that governs mathematical ability and spatial reasoning was significantly larger than average. Its cells may have been more closely connected, which could have allowed them to work together more effectively.” Read the full article

The Hamilton Spectator reported in 2013 that it was still floating in a jar of alcohol, in a safe place in a science lab – and that a local musician Chris Houston has written and recorded a song about it titled Einstein’s Brain.