A reader asked me to estimate Einstein’s IQ, which I’ve wanted to do for a long time. But first it’s important to note that his brain reportedly weighed 1230 g when he died. However as scholar J.P. Rushton has explained, brain weight increases by 9% post-mortem so I will divide this figure by 1.09 to get the in-vivo weight which gives 1128 g. This sounds small but keep in mind he died at 76 and adult brain size averages 2 grams smaller each year of older age, which means had he died the same year but been 25 instead of 76, his brain would have been 1230 g which equates to 1274 cm3.
Rushton shows that Caucasian enlisted men in the U.S. army have a mean cranial capacity of 1468 (Standard Deviation (SD) = 91) however this data was from 1989, and because of better nutrition, cranial capacity has been increasing by 1.25 cm3 per year, so in 1955, the average Caucasian man should have had a brain size of 1426 cm3, so even adjusting for age and cohort, Einstein’s brain was 1.67 SD below average for a man.
Einstein was also Jewish. The average brain size of Ashkenazi’s Jews does not appear to be known, but given that Ashkenazis average 0.66 SD better than white gentiles on IQ tests, and given that within sex brain size correlates about 0.4 with IQ, we might guess they average brains that are 0.66 SD(0.4) = 0.26 SD larger than white gentiles. If so, that would make Einstein’s brain 1.93 SD smaller than the average Ashkenazi man of his age and cohort. In other words the bottom 3% for his generation and ethnicity.
Given that Einstein is the poster boy for genius, this is a terrible symbolic blow to craniometry. Because most people think anecdotally, not statistically, no matter how many studies report a positive correlation between IQ and brain size, people can always counter “but Einstein had a small brain.”
Pumpkin Person 
let’s talk about his penis size.
it’s much more up pp’s alley, as she’s an “aggressive” lesbian who wants nothing more than a big penis.
Incredible. But didn’t Einstein have some unusual brain features associated with greater visualization capabilities?
And what do you estimate Einstein’s IQ to be? I’ve seen estimates on Internet indicating around 160, but of course like most things on the Internet related to IQ, it’s probably bullshit. Considering he’s one of smartest minds of the 20th century, it seems like he would at least be in the 180 range, no?
Riffing on Einstein’s IQ some more: we can assume that Einstein is probably at least above 150, given that was the average for eminent scientists in the Roe study. But how much more? His position in the annals of scientific history and pop culture would indicate an IQ on the order of 1 in 10 billion level. But at the same, wasn’t it true that he was late speaker? How would this weigh against him? How about the rumors of his somewhat less-than-perfect grades he received on college entrance exams (I know the myth of him being a sub-par student is totally bullshit, but I remember reading somewhere that he was not necessarily the best mathematics student in university)?
One more mark against him: he had child out of wedlock. Usually indicative of low IQ, and very surprising for someone of his time period and stature.
Incredible. But didn’t Einstein have some unusual brain features associated with greater visualization capabilities?
Yes.
And what do you estimate Einstein’s IQ to be?
I’m leading up to that, but first have to establish the basics.
I’ve seen estimates on Internet indicating around 160, but of course like most things on the Internet related to IQ, it’s probably bullshit.
Exactly.
Considering he’s one of smartest minds of the 20th century, it seems like he would at least be in the 180 range, no?
If you believe IQ = intelligence, and if you believe he was one of the smartest minds of the 20th century, then by definition he would be above 180, but that’s just a tautology.
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please check this famous photo with other prominent scientists.
It seems like he had one of the biggest heads among people in that photo. How can then Einstein brain be so small? then it means most prominent scientists had small heads??
He has a wide brain, maybe width is more important than total size.
By the way Curie seems to have really big head, although she is a woman, but she has double nobel prize.
Look at this photo of Einstein with other prominent scientists:
http://www.corbisimages.com/stock-photo/rights-managed/U142927ACME/portrait-of-albert-einstein-with-other-noted
he has definetely a big head… strange
Two possibilities:
1) his brain shrunk an abnormal amount in old age, thus invalidating my attempts to estimate his peak brain size in young adulthood
2) his head was enlarged by supernormal growth in early childhood followed by shrinkage in adolescence. This implies autism
true.
or maybe the guy who took his brain actually took someone else’s brain.
in this photo he looks very old
his skull still very big, or the other guy is small. his brain might have still shrunk inside…
I just google “Einstein with” in google Images and compare…
Einshtaijn have a schizophrenic boy, like John Nash, rip. Mental disorders are shared within families.
I would even say that the photos suggest that Einstein had actually the biggest head among other prominent scientists… and therefore fully fits the theory of brain size and IQ…
There are 2 or 3 other big heads very close to Einstein’s head size though…
Or may be he is very brachycephalic.
It’s an optical illusion, his hair don’t allow you to really compare with others.
To be honest, this whole exercise of determining brain size from looking at old black and white pictures is pretty damn silly. Outside head circumference/height only has a moderate correlation with brain size, which itself only has a moderate correlation with IQ. Besides, these pictures are so old and dark and grainy that determining head size from them is straight up retarded (aka indicative of small brain size).
http://www.quora.com/Albert-Einstein-is-considered-as-one-of-the-greatest-Who-were-the-comparable-or-greater-scientists-if-any
check out the color picture in the link
“Einstein was also Jewish. The average brain size of Ashkenazi’s Jews does not appear to be known, but given that Ashkenazis average 0.66 SD better than white gentiles on IQ tests, and given that within sex brain size correlates about 0.4 with IQ, we might guess they average brains that are 0.66 SD(0.4) = 0.26 SD larger than white gentiles.”
No, this is not a reasonable assumption. IQ is also correlated with height, buts Jews are not taller than Northern Europeans.
The Jews: A Study of Race and Environment
By Maurice Fishberg
One of the methods of determining the volume of the brain case, and approximately the weight of the brain, is the determination of the cranial capacity. Very few direct measurements of this kind have been taken, because only few Jewish skulls have found their way into anthropological museums, where they could be studied carefully. But from the few studies of this character that have been made, it appears that the Jews are somewhat at a disadvantage. Lombroso’s studies of the Jews in Turin, Italy, which were made in an indirect fashion, showed that the Jews have a smaller cranial capacity than the Catholics of that city.2 Weinberg collected measurements of seventeen Jewish skulls in various museums of Europe, which were made properly, and are not approximations. The average cranial capacity was 1421 c.cm., which is about thirty to forty c.cm. below the average cranial capacity of the population of Europe. Of course the small number of skulls thus measured is not sufficient to draw positive conclusions.
As to the weight of the brain, there are also very few observations on record. The author knows only of twentythree Jewish brains reported by Giltchenko,3 four by Weisbach,4 and three by Weinberg.5 The average weight of these brains, as calculated by Weinberg, was 1320.4 gm. Since the average weight of the brain of the European is 1350 gms., the brain of Jews is rather lighter by 30
gms. , or nearly one ounce. Considering that the Jews are shorter of stature than the average Europeans, it would be expected that their brain should also be smaller. But, as Weinberg points out, the average for Germans was found to be 8.22 gm. of brain tissue for each centimetre of stature, while for the Jews it is only 8.05 gms. This shows the Jewish brain lighter not only absolutely, but also relatively.
Thank you! This is extremely interesting!
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I think some studies have shown that larger brain of Asians is devoted to visual-spatial. Jews have lower visual-spatial ability than northern europeans. Thus the smaller head of Jews, and yet superior verbal skills. Northern Europeans have superior verbals skills to Asians, but Asians with larger heads have suprior visual-spatial scores. They do much better on math than northern europeans. I then would expect that whites would do better in math than Jews. But this doesn’t seem to be the case. Or are the jews all bullshit?
I know this is an old post but I wanted to leave a quick comment and hopefully get a quick reply. This post seems flawed for a couple reasons. First The correction for In vivo brain weight doesn’t appear in any of the 15 or so papers I’ve recently looked at on brain weights of deceased persons. If this correction isn’t routine, I don’t see how it’s use here is justified. Also your reduction of 2 grams per year is on the low side. Most studies show a much greater loss, especially after 70. I think he was much closer to 1500 cm3 at peak than your estimate of 1274 cm3 which makes much more sense as he was described as having a rather large head. I really enjoy your blog btw.
I know this is an old post but I wanted to leave a quick comment and hopefully get a quick reply.
Posts are never too old to be commented on.
This post seems flawed for a couple reasons. First The correction for In vivo brain weight doesn’t appear in any of the 15 or so papers I’ve recently looked at on brain weights of deceased persons.
The only reason for the correction to come up is if you’re comparing brain volume as measured by weight to brain volume as measured by cranial capacity. Most papers on brain weight at autopsy are focused exclusively on brain weight at autopsy so no need to know what the brain would have weighed if the person were alive.
I really enjoy your blog btw.
Thank you so much!