00:00In 2010, an international study showed that the average IQ is somewhere around 89.
00:07That doesn't necessarily mean that people who score higher than that are smarter.
00:12Sure, students that ace their IQ tests end up doing pretty well in life,
00:17in school, when it comes to making money and staying healthy.
00:21And they also tend to live longer.
00:23But it's not simply because they're smarter.
00:26It's mostly because higher IQ scores are related to higher levels of motivation.
00:31Either way, if there's a name that's become synonymous with the word smart,
00:36it's surely that of Albert Einstein.
00:39And if you look up Einstein's IQ on the Internet, you'll surely find a number.
00:45The problem is, the information isn't accurate.
00:48Einstein never took an IQ test, so scientists can only guess,
00:52based on information they have about his life.
00:56These days, there's a test called the Waze 4.
01:00Its results can give a maximum score of 160.
01:04If you score 135 or higher, you're in the top 1%.
01:09Some news articles throw around the number 160 when talking about Einstein's IQ,
01:14but nobody really knows where that number comes from.
01:18There's a big issue with these estimates people make.
01:21They confuse raw brain power with what you achieve in a specific field.
01:26See, Einstein was a genius in theoretical physics.
01:30But if you look at how he did when he was younger, it doesn't necessarily indicate a high IQ.
01:36Other scientists think Einstein might have had a high IQ
01:39because of the incredible stuff he did in his work.
01:43On that note, there's this unique experiment that Einstein did when he was a teenager.
01:49He imagined himself chasing after a light beam.
01:53That shows a high level of understanding and imagination.
01:58More so, scientists in the 90s found out that the part of Einstein's brain
02:02that allowed for 3D visualization was way bigger than usual.
02:09There are many other scientists who made important discoveries for humankind.
02:14So why did Einstein become universally famous?
02:18Your guess might be that he came up with his theory of relativity in 1905.
02:23And sure, it's important.
02:26But what's even more impressive is that it seemed to pop out of nowhere.
02:31Unlike other famous scientists like Newton or Marie Curie,
02:36Einstein didn't have genius relatives or an impressive school record.
02:41On the contrary, he actually failed at getting a university job right after graduation.
02:47Plus, he wasn't part of any scientific organization.
02:50He mostly worked alone.
02:53More so, when he came up with the famous theory,
02:56he was just a regular patent clerk,
02:59trying to make ends meet with a small child at home.
03:03Some believe that's precisely what made Einstein famous overnight
03:07and what cemented his physics celebrity status.
03:10The fact that he didn't have an impressive background.
03:14What's also interesting about Einstein and his activity
03:17is that it seems no one can follow in his footsteps.
03:21Some have even wondered,
03:23will we ever have another scientist as big as Einstein?
03:27Most experts are a bit skeptical.
03:30It's not that the scientists of today can't match up to Einstein's intelligence.
03:35We've seen some real geniuses out there in recent years too.
03:40Take Stephen Hawking and his work on black holes
03:43or even Neil deGrasse Tyson with his simple explanations
03:46for really complicated astronomical subjects.
03:51Maybe the reason we don't see more Einsteins nowadays
03:54is that there are just so many brilliant scientists around
03:57that it's hard for any one of them to stand out.
04:01Also, Einstein may seem bigger than these modern scientists
04:04because, well, physics itself has changed.
04:09Back in the first half of the 20th century,
04:12physics was really popular.
04:15It wasn't just about understanding the secrets of nature.
04:19It was also about creating history-altering moments.
04:23Like the invention of nuclear power, radars, lasers, transistors
04:27and all the tech that makes our gadgets work.
04:30But fast forward to today and things have shifted.
04:33Many physicists are concerned with things that are more abstract.
04:37Like, say, understanding higher dimensions
04:41that don't really have much to do with our everyday reality.
04:45Meanwhile, biology became a bit more popular.
04:48A man named Francis Crick, who started as a physicist,
04:51came pretty close to Einstein-like status
04:54when he and James Watson unraveled the DNA double helix in the 50s.
04:58He even ventured into the mystery of consciousness in his later years.
05:03But even Crick couldn't quite reach the same legendary status.
05:09Einstein wasn't just a brain, he was a voice.
05:12He used his fame to speak out on important issues
05:15and people hung on his every word.
05:18He was even asked to become president of Israel back in 1952.
05:23He turned the job down, deciding to stick to what he knew best, physics.
05:28It's tough to imagine any scientist today,
05:31whether physicist or biologist, being put on such a pedestal.
05:36Part of it might be because people are more cautious
05:39about the potential downsides of scientific advances.
05:43Einstein also had this quality that set him apart.
05:47A sort of pure, childlike stubbornness.
05:51Maybe Einstein was the perfect product of a very special time
05:55and a certain type of personality.
05:58Einstein himself didn't even believe he lived up to all the hype.
06:02He even said once, I am no Einstein.
06:07People also questioned if Einstein's descendants were equally as smart.
06:13And it turns out that he might have passed on some of his genius genes.
06:18First off, it's important to know that IQ values are pretty inheritable.
06:23But when you talk about really, really smart people like Einstein,
06:26there's more to it.
06:28And Einstein's kids in particular got their smarts from their mom too.
06:31Her name was Mileva Maric.
06:34And she was also a scientist, even helping out with Einstein's work.
06:38However, there's also this thing called regression toward the mean.
06:43It's a scientific concept discovered by Francis Galton,
06:46one of Charles Darwin's cousins.
06:49His findings showcase that people born out of two tall parents tend to be shorter.
06:54So, if both your parents are very smart,
06:57you'll likely be smart too, but not quite at their level.
07:01Back to Einstein's family.
07:04First, there's his son, Edward, who started off as a med student,
07:08but due to medical problems, ended up spending most of his life admitted.
07:13His other son, Hans Albert, was also intelligent.
07:17He taught hydraulic engineering at the University of Berkeley.
07:20Not exactly, exactly E equals MC square level, but still pretty impressive.
07:26One of Einstein's grandkids, Bernhard, also became a physicist,
07:31dabbled in engineering, and even filed for a bunch of US patents.
07:37There might have been something in Einstein's brain that made him so intelligent too.
07:42And it might have had something to do with glial cells.
07:46Think of them as the dark, mysterious matter of the brain.
07:49Now, these glial cells provide support, keep things fed,
07:53help with signal transmission, and are as important as neurons.
07:58When looking at Einstein's brain and comparing it to 11 others,
08:02scientists noticed that his brain had more glial cells,
08:06especially in this one spot called the left inferior parietal area.
08:12Now, this area is part of what experts call the association cortex.
08:17It's like the brain's mixing bowl,
08:19where it takes information from different parts of the brain and puts it all together.
08:25In simple terms, it seems that all the parts of his brain were better at communicating with each other.
08:31This information may not be sufficient to conclude Einstein's brain was special,
08:36mostly because they were looking at a total of 12 brains,
08:40and that's obviously not enough information to work with.
08:44Despite his forward thinking, especially when it came to physics,
08:49it's rumored that Einstein wasn't a big fan of science fiction.
08:54He probably thought this genre messed with people's grasp of real science,
08:59making them believe in impossible stuff.
09:02In an ironic twist of events, years later,
09:05the legendary Yoda from Star Wars was inspired by Einstein's looks.
09:11We should also consider ourselves lucky he became a scientist
09:15and came up with his crucial theories for our understanding of the universe.
09:19That's because when Einstein was young,
09:22he was more passionate about playing his violin.
09:25He even mentioned that, if he wouldn't have stumbled on physics,
09:29he would have loved to become a musician.
09:32That's it for today.
09:33So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity,
09:35then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
09:38Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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