Finding Einstein's Brain by Frederick E. Lepore

Author:Frederick E. Lepore
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rutgers University Press

CHAPTER 7

The Pursuit of Genius

We do not know how or why genius is possible, only that—to our massive enrichment—it has existed, and perhaps (waningly) continues to appear.

—HAROLD BLOOM, Genius

In 2000 when I embarked on what would prove to be a haphazard program of research on Einstein’s cerebrum, I posed a straightforward question: “Why does Einstein’s brain exert such irresistible attraction for neuroscientists and people from all walks of life?”1 My explanation for the unflagging interest in a brain preserved in formalin for over six decades was, and still is, best encapsulated in a single word—genius. And as we seek to understand what makes a genius tick, is there any more promising place to begin than with “the twentieth century icon of genius, Albert Einstein?”2

On the surface, I answered a simple question with a breezy answer, to be sure … but just how do we go about defining genius?

In this book about a brain, I must own up once again to the problems that inevitably arise when discussing one of the highest attainments of the human mind—genius. My default stance as a neurologist is that the brain has a lot to do with the mind, but this chapter does little or nothing to bridge the explanatory gap separating brain science and mind science (of which genius is a topic par excellence). So why read on? I can only presuppose that you are turning these pages because of your interest in: A) Einstein, B) brains, or C) genius. C now takes the stage, front and center, because it is emblematic of our personification of Einstein, it is a scarce and remarkable outcome for the human condition, and even if we disregard neuroscience with the concession that “a materialist definition of genius is impossible,”3 we are transfixed by it. Why?

Pick your favored cultural “carrots” (as opposed to “sticks”) along the lines of “fame, fortune, and happiness,” and it won’t be long before you seize upon genius as an effective means of grabbing a bunch. Genius as practiced by Einstein or Shakespeare can leave an indelible imprint on posterity (fame). Genius wielded by the likes of Steve Jobs or Bill Gates can lead to the accrual of staggering wealth (fortune). The happiness part of the genius triad is a little more uncertain and problematic … as in tortured geniuses. The psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison studied the incidence of mood disorders and suicide in thirty-six English and Irish poets born from 1705 to 1805. Byron, Keats, Shelley, Wordsworth, Samuel Johnson, Coleridge, and Blake were among these creative geniuses, and their mental health “scorecard” was discouraging—more than half suffered mood disorders, two committed suicide, and four were institutionalized in asylums.4

Okay, two out of three isn’t bad … and there are undoubtedly some happy and emotionally stable geniuses. For example, Einstein told C. P. Snow that “in his experience, the best creative work is never done when one is unhappy.”5 Emotional storm warnings aside, genius is simply an important subset of global cultural imperatives. Just ask the Tiger Mom sending junior to the “Mozarts and Einsteins” preschool.

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