Dr Martin Brookes
No-one doubts the genius of Einstein. Together with Mozart, Newton, Copernicus and Shakespeare, he's been granted the accolade that history reserves for just the special few. But what exactly do we mean by 'genius'. Like the theory of relativity, it's one of those concepts that everyone seems familiar with, but few can pin down. How do you identify a genius? Are their brains different? Are they born or bred? The Victorians, 150 years ago, believed you could tell a genius by feeling the head. Today, scientists probe the inside of the head for answers, but despite their best efforts hard facts remain elusive. Do geniuses actually exist then or are their achievements just a fluke of circumstance? Is the whole concept just a man-made construct?
Recipe for genius
Some people equate genius with a supercharged IQ. But high IQ turns out to be a weak predictor of groundbreaking accomplishment in life. Academic achievement is also an unreliable guide. While it's true that Einstein excelled at mathematics, physics and music, the school records of other so-called geniuses are often far less impressive.
Genius, it seems, demands the expression of qualities often denied by traditional schooling and intelligence tests. Though exceptional ability may be a key ingredient, you must also throw courage and creativity into the mix. Top that off with a talent for visualising problems from new and original angles, and you may be getting somewhere towards that elusive formula.
But there seems to be no single recipe for genius. Instead, it manifests itself in various forms and flavours. Take the case of the award-winning musician Tony DeBlois, for instance. DeBlois is outstanding by anyone's standards. He can play 20 instruments and has an astonishing 8000 songs committed to memory. He also suffers from a rare form of autism known as savant syndrome, in which an exceptional ability in one area is often matched by a corresponding deficiency in another. The condition was made famous in the 1988 Hollywood film, Rain Man, in which Dustin Hoffman played a man blessed with extraordinary mathematical abilities but weak language and comprehension skills.
Search for hallmarks
The idea that genius manifests itself in a measurable physical form is not a new one. In the 19th century, the pseudoscience of phrenology was drawing all sorts of extravagant conclusions based on nothing more sophisticated than a gentle head massage. Essentially a cerebral version of palm-reading, phrenology was built on the idea that a person's character could be divined through the shape of their head and the bumps that covered its surface.
The Victorian polymath Francis Galton spent much of his life looking for the hallmark of genius. This search led to his own groundbreaking work in anthropology, psychology and the study of human fingerprints. Galton, of course, had a vested interest in his quest. As the founder of the eugenics movement he was looking for a biological barcode that could distinguish the good breeding stock from the bad. While Galton was ultimately unsuccessful in his search, he did give genius a statistical face when he became the first person to use the bell curve to describe the variation in human intelligence.
Fellow Victorian Paul Broca, a French anthropologist, did much to popularise the idea that big brains and big skulls go hand in hand with greater intelligence. But Broca's work seemed fuelled by racism and bigotry as much as hard science.
After the atrocities of the Second World War, the search for a physical stamp of genius went cold, and only recently has it been revived. A 1994 study of healthy adult females showed a weak but significant correlation between brain volume and IQ scores. Einstein's brain, however, is no bigger than normal. Weighing in at 1230 grammes, it turns out to be slightly below the average weight of 1400 grammes.
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