Perhaps you have read about a Canadian University study done some years ago now that compared the brain of Albert Einstein with nearly 100 “normal” brains.  In basic terms, the discovery was that while average overall, the parietal lobes of Albert Einstein’s brain were 15% larger than average.  There was also evidence indicating they had been over-sized from birth.

The parietal lobe is the area that evidences brain waves about spatial and time matters.  So it seems logical to conclude that these physical differences aided the great physicist in his brilliant understanding of the universe.

Of course the conclusion for the rest of us – including the professional engineer – is that lacking the added brain capacity, our thinking capacity may just be “average”.

But take heart in this discussion about brains.  There is a report from an Einstein family member (a cousin), who was present at an encounter in the 1920′s between Albert and the mayor of Paris.  Asked by the mayor if it took him long to come up with his special and general theories of relativity, Einstein replied, in effect, that it had not taken long, but, of course, he had been thinking about the subject matter all of his life.

Maybe then the lesson of Einstein’s brain is not about the size of one’s parietal lobes or brain altogether.  The lesson is about the size of the effort.

The whole of science is nothing more than a refinement of everyday thinking. – Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955)

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