All language subtitles for The.UnXplained.Special.Presentation.S01E10.1080p.WEB.h264-EDITH_track3_[eng]

the course of history.

A brilliant mathematician

who became
a criminal mastermind.

And secrets contained
within the brain

of Albert Einstein.

For centuries,
humanity has wondered

what makes the mind
of a genius tick.

Are people
like Leonardo da Vinci

or Albert Einstein
born with a special gift

that the rest of us
simply don't possess?

Or do we all have
the potential for genius

locked inside our minds,
just waiting to be unleashed?

Well, that is what
we'll try and find out.

In this suburb
located seven miles

from downtown Los Angeles
lives Kashe Quest.

Although Kashe is similar
to other three-year-olds

in some ways,

her mental abilities
are astonishing.

Some experts have even claimed
that she's a genius.

SUKHJIT ATHWAL:
Let's do a few elements.
Are you ready?

-Yeah.
-All right, what's this one?

-Chlorine.
-Chlorine. What's this one?

-Helium.
-Helium. What's this one?

-Beryllium.
-What's this?

QUEST:
Copper.

We got to take turns.

SHATNER:
Since the age of two,
Kashe has been able

to visually recognize
and memorize

the elements
on the periodic table

and all 50 states on the map,

which the vast majority
of children her age cannot do.

In fact, Kashe is the youngest
person ever admitted into Mensa.

The most prestigious

high-intelligence society
in the world.

But is it really possible

for someone who is
only three years old

to qualify as a genius?

ATHWAL:
Very early on, she was just
always keen to learning.

She identified all, you know,

basic preschool skills

at 18 months--
which were shapes, colors,

numbers, letters and sounds.

Once we started reading
her books and doing puzzles,

we just realized how much
she was actually retaining.

Show Mommy South Africa.

Kashe is a toddler
with gifted abilities.

There it is.

Our pediatrician did say she's
doing a lot of things that,

in her history
of being a pediatrician,

she has not seen
other children do.

Show Mommy Indonesia.

That's what led us
to get her tested,

to identify her IQ.

There it is.

And we found out
that her IQ was 146.

SHATNER:
According to experts, an IQ,

or intelligence quotient,

higher than 140 qualifies
as genius-level.

For decades,

scientists have used
various kinds of IQ tests

to try and unravel the mystery
of what makes someone a genius.

The basis of what
we call the IQ test

was developed by
a French psychologist

by the name of Alfred Binet

at the beginning
of the 20th century.

That original diagnostic
developed by Binet

was then taken by
the American psychologist

Lewis Terman at Stanford.

He does this big study
around San Francisco

where they just administer
the IQ test to schoolchildren,

and he tries to weed out anyone
below an IQ of 140,

which he identifies
as the genius level.

SHATNER: There were two boys who
participated in Terman's study

who would go on to win
the Nobel Prize in physics

when they grew up--

William Shockley
and Luis Alvarez.

But, curiously, because
their IQs were less than 140,

the study did not consider them

to have genius-level
intelligence.

McMAHON:
And it just goes to show you

that genius and intelligence

are not the same thing.

You can have a high IQ,
but not necessarily have

all the other kind of skills
that are necessary

to produce great things.

RAMANI DURVASULA:
The big problem
with this word "genius"

is that nobody agrees
upon the definition.

All we do know is
when we hear it,

we know that the person
who is a so-called "genius"

is in possession
of abilities or skills

that are far beyond the pale
of what most

ordinary human beings possess.

SHATNER:
But if an IQ score
doesn't answer the question

of what makes someone a genius,

then what does?

What is the common trait--
or combination of traits--

that allows geniuses to make

such important contributions
to society?

Some experts believe that
a clue can be found by examining

both the role that geniuses
have played in history

and how our perception
of genius

has changed over time.

Genius is a term that actually
goes back to ancient Rome,

and, therefore, it's acquired

a lot of different meanings
in 2,000 years.

If you look at a lot
of historical examples

of geniuses--
like Aristotle and Plato,

Isaac Newton, Beethoven

and Albert Einstein--

these are people who are making

very important,
highly valued contributions

to our culture,
to our civilization.

We're talking about science,

literature, something
that is valued by the culture,

an artistic masterpiece.

An absolutely
incredible contribution

to a major area of achievement.

McMAHON:
We need to be cautious
about thinking of genius

as a universal trait.

Genius is less a quality
inherent in people and more

a label that we apply to people
of supreme intelligence

or creative capacity
or productivity.

And the criteria that we use
to apply that label changed.

Different skills, different
gifts, different capacities

that change from time to place
and have changed over history.

(speaking foreign language)

SHATNER:
Our understanding of the nature
of genius is clearly evolved

and will continue to evolve
in the future.

But there's another question
about genius

that has been debated
for centuries.

Do some people
come into the world

already possessing genius

or is it developed after birth?

One dominant idea
that evolves around genius

is that genius is born not made.

The great kind of test case
in this regard is Mozart.

Mozart is a child prodigy.

He has genius
from the beginning,

and he carries that out
throughout the rest of his life.

And so, to contemporaries,
he seemed to confirm

this belief that genius
is just there.

Either you have it or you don't.

Looking at the other side
of things,

we know that his father
was a music teacher

and he that surely clocked
the requisite 10,000 hours

of training and practice to make
him the prodigy that he became.

So, there is this
kind of idea now

that just intelligence
is not enough,

so there's a big debate
about this.

But we don't know. (laughs)
That's what makes it a mystery.

SHATNER:
Today, there are some experts
who believe

that genius is a special quality

that certain individuals
are simply born with,

but not everyone agrees
with that theory.

In fact,
at Johns Hopkins University

in Baltimore, Maryland,

a program has
actually been instituted

for the purpose
of developing geniuses.

It's called CTY,

or the Center
for Talented Youth.

DURVASULA:
CTY, or The Center
for Talented Youth,

identifies gifted youth

and gives them
all kinds of enriched

educational experiences,

higher level coursework.

Things that are typically
at a higher level

than what a child
would be receiving at school

in that particular grade
or age level.

With the idea being that,

because these children
are such talented children,

that they need this enrichment
to be able to cultivate them,

so that they can sort of reach
their fullest potential.

Some of the famous alumni

of CTY include Mark Zuckerberg,

Sergey Brin, who was
the co-founder of Google.

So, clearly, some of the people
who've come out of this program

have shaped society
in rather permanent ways.

SIMONTON:
Our civilization,
our culture is pretty much

defined by our geniuses
in the past.

And when a society

loses its geniuses,

when it stops producing
its geniuses,

it descends into a dark age.

And so that leads
to the question,

what are some things
we should look for

to identify geniuses
or potential geniuses?

And what can we do to encourage
the emergence of genius?

Because genius is
an important thing to cultivate.

SHATNER:
Tanishq Abraham receives

his Bachelor's degree
with highest honors.

But unlike the other graduates
picking up their diplomas,

Tanishq is only 15 years old.

And then, from there on,
we kind of figured,

yeah, he's getting
the hang of this,

and so we start introducing
new concepts to him.

BIJOU ABRAHAM:
When Tanishq was four years old,
we took his IQ test.

He had such a high IQ score,
I don't think I knew anybody

who had that high
of an IQ score, personally.

So, that's when I realized

there's something unusual
about this kid.

TANISHQ ABRAHAM:
I actually want to go
to medical school

and become a doctor,

and I want to become
a physician scientist.

I know that I have a talent and
I want to put it to good use.

SHATNER:
What makes
Tanishq Abraham's mind

different from everyone else's?

Although scientists have been
studying child prodigies

like Tanishq for years,

they still don't really have
an explanation.

And in his case,

an explanation is further
complicated by the fact

that Tanishq isn't
the only genius in his family.

BIJOU:
Tiara had started singing
at a really young age.

She started out singing,
like, simple songs

like "Happy Birthday"
and things like that,

but she sang it
in an opera style,

and so, we'd go and
ask musicians, "Is that normal?"

And they're just like,
"That's not normal." So...

That's when we felt, "Okay,
we have a different type

of prodigy on our hands."

Not the highly scientific
intellect type,

but Tiara has her prodigy
more in the arts,

and she has
a really amazing memory.

TIARA ABRAHAM:
I've learned six languages,

including Spanish, French,
Italian, and German.

And, just for fun, I memorized
around 550 digits of pi.

It's amazing that,
in a short amount of time,

she was able
to memorize those numbers.

She kind of described it
like, uh, dance programs,

where the notes
start scrolling down,

and that's how she feels,
she said.

The numbers
are just scrolling by,

and she just starts
reciting them.

3.141592653

5897932384626

4338327950

288419716

9399375105820

97494459.

JUDY HO:
People don't even agree on the
definition of what a genius is.

We know that it's not hereditary
like the way your eye color is.

And so, really, many times,

people who are defined
or talked about as geniuses,

they do come from families
with parents with normal IQ.

And so, I don't think
we know very much

about exactly why genius occurs.

TRAVIS TAYLOR:
What's so special
about these kids?

Why is it that their brain
developed in such a way

that they can solve problems
or understand things

that adults take years to do?

SHATNER:
Is it possible
that the potential for genius

lies within each
and every one of us?

Somewhere deep within
each of our brains?

Perhaps the answer can be found
by examining the case

of a man who
wasn't born a genius

but became one at the age of 39.

While in town
visiting his mother,

corporate sales trainer
Derek Amato

reconnects with some
old friends at a pool party.

AMATO:
We got together at the pool
for a little barbecue,

and we were challenging
one another

to do all these goofy stunts,

and I told one of the guys
to throw the football,

and I would run and dive
over the water and catch it,

and I hit my head on
the bottom of the shallow end

of the swimming pool.

I knew I had hurt myself,

but I didn't know
to what extent.

After they took me
to my mom's house,

she rushed me
right to the hospital.

They had done a bunch of scans,

and I didn't have any bleeding.

So they kept me to monitor
what was going on,

and the next morning
they sent me home.

SHATNER:
Despite a serious head injury

that could've left him
paralyzed or worse,

Derek appeared
to make a full recovery.

Other than a bump on his head,

there didn't seem to be
anything different about him.

Or so everyone thought.

AMATO:
I did go home with my mother
and stay with her

for the next five days,
and I slept.

I remember little moments,
periodically, looking up and

seeing these blocks,
these black and white squares

and I just thought
they were little marks

just from my head injury

that I was seeing these
little, um, shapes.

After five days, the gentleman

that was with me
when I hit my head

came over to pick me up and

we went over to his apartment,

and there was a small keyboard
in the corner.

And, as we were talking,
I just kind of felt drawn

to walk over to it.

And I sat down and...

that's when my hands

just started to absolutely go

like I had been playing
for years,

and it was a pretty
profound moment

because I had never
touched a piano.

I did not see those
black and white squares

prior to my head injury,

and then, after some time
working with some doctors,

we've kind of put these pieces
together to understand that

those little boxes are the notes

that are telling my hands
what to do and where to go.

SHATNER:
In the years after his accident,

Derek has become
a virtuoso pianist

and has played on stages
across the United States.

And even though
thousands of people

have now seen him perform,
the question still remains:

how did Derek

develop his incredible ability

seemingly overnight

and without ever taking
a single piano lesson?

AMATO:
My reaction
at the moment I discovered

my hands were
playing the piano was

"How am I going to explain
this to someone?"

I became so curious
that I started looking

on the Internet for any
information I could find on it,

and they even had
a title for it as

acquired savant syndrome

and that was
all new words for me

because I thought a savant
was a French pastry.

HO:
Acquired savant syndrome
means that,

after some kind of brain injury
or damage,

all of a sudden,
this person becomes

really specialized in some area

that they previously
had no skill in.

SUSAN SCHNEIDER:
Scientists have
identified damage

to a particular area
of the brain,

the left anterior temporal lobe,
as being essential

to the creation
of acquired savant syndrome.

The theory is that, perhaps,

because the left hemisphere
started to go dark

after this injury,
now the right side

could feel free
to express themselves fully,

and they develop
these artistic abilities.

SHATNER:
The remarkable abilities
of people like Derek Amato

suggest that even if
we aren't born a genius,

there is something in our brains

that could be rewired
to make us one.

AMATO:
I believe we all
have these gifts,

and it may not be musical gifts
in all of us, but I think

we're designed gifted, and
I think it's just a matter

of discovery from there on out.

SHATNER:
Music teacher Adam Ockelford
is in the middle of a lesson,

when a blind five-year-old boy
bursts through the door

and changes Adam's life forever.

I first met Derek 35 years ago.

And this
totally blind little boy,

who was desperate
to get at the piano,

and he just pushed us
out of the way and got playing.

And I thought, "God, he's mad."

You know, there were notes
flying everywhere.

He was playing
"Don't Cry for Me Argentina,"

but with lots of scales
and arpeggios and chords.

And I suddenly thought,
"Wow, you know, he's not mad.

He's a genius."

When I first tried
to teach Derek,

it turned out he could just play
any tune that I named.

He was only five years old
and already in his head

he clearly had thousands
of songs already memorized.

Derek was born very premature,

and he had to have a lot
of oxygen to keep him alive,

and we know from modern
neuroscience that doing that

to a brain causes it to grow
in a slightly different way,

to wire itself up
in a different way.

The thing with teaching
autistic children

like Derek is to form
a relationship with him.

He's got to trust you.

He's almost got to love you,
really, as a little boy.

It's almost like
a parent-child relationship.

So, he'll trust you to take him
into new territories

that he doesn't necessarily
feel comfortable with.

It's got to be
a human relationship.

TERRY WOGAN:
He's making it up
as he went along.

-Terrific.
-(audience applauds)

What a great gift
and what a great talent,

and it's something for you
to be very proud of.

-Derek Paravicini.
-(applause)

SHATNER:
Over the next 35 years,

Adam worked closely with Derek
to hone his natural abilities.

The result?

Derek is not only

a world-renowned
professional pianist,

but someone
whom scientists believe

may be among a rare group
of humans who possess

the most finely developed sense
of hearing in the world.

OCKELFORD:
The whole of Derek's
musical ability

is really founded on one thing,

which is his hearing
is so acute,

he can hear tiny differences
in notes that most people can't,

and Derek can
remember them as well.

Derek, shall we play
our copy game?

We'll play our copy game,
please, Adam.

Perfect pitch is really rare
amongst people as a whole,

probably about one in 10,000
people have perfect pitch,

but Derek has kind of
perfect pitch plus.

Play this note
exactly as it is. Ready?

(both play note)

OCKELFORD:
So, I can play one note,
say F sharp,

and Derek instantly hears it.

You know exactly
which one it is, don't you?

-I do.
-What if I play two notes?

OCKELFORD:
But there's more
to it than that,

'cause if he hears two notes

or three notes or even ten notes

all at the same time...

Four notes.

...instantly, Derek can hear it.

Uh, seven notes.

OCKELFORD:
In fact, we've done
tests with him,

and he can hear ten notes,

and he processes them
in less than half a second.

Yeah.

Every day, I sit down

and we start to play
and I think,

"How did you do that?"

And that, to me,
is what keeps it interesting

because musicians
give me a window

into the brain that's unique.

We have developed tools
and research to try to infer

about what happens in someone's
brain,

but I have personally
been involved

in measuring Derek's ability,

and I can very confidently say

that I have exhausted
our technological means

to actually try
to develop a test

that could measure
Derek's ability.

Some people say that Derek's
abilities are almost superhuman,

but I would say that it's much
more sophisticated than that.

Not only can he unpack

tens, dozens,
hundreds of pitches,

he can make
musical sense of them,

and that's something
that only Derek can do.

I have not come across any piece
of technology that can do that.

SHATNER:
While Derek has set a new bar
for hearing aptitude,

it appears that his
heightened sense

is not without its downsides.

Because, as superhuman
as Derek's hearing is,

the rest of his mind
seems to have paid a price.

-Yay!
-Well done, Derek.

-Did you enjoy that?
-Enjoyed that, Adam.

-Yay. Good session?
-Good session.

The thing with Derek's
abilities, they come at a cost.

They come at a cost
of understanding language,

of being able to sustain
himself independently,

being able to function
independently.

Derek is almost like
Alice in the looking glass.

Everything is reversed.

So, really complicated things

that most people
would find impossible,

like a whole piece of music,

go straight into
his long-term memory.

Really easy things,

like "what did you have
for lunch today"

just don't stick.

That's the extraordinary
enigma of Derek.

SHATNER:
But what is it that gives Derek
his extraordinary ability?

Is it simply his means of
compensating for his blindness

or is there something more
to it than that?

MICHAEL DENNIN:
When we think about these cases,
an obvious place to go is,

"Oh, he's blind,
so it's the lack of eyesight

that is contributing to this."

What I don't know,
and I think people are still

looking at is,
is that something that happens

sort of early on
in the formation of the brain

that's purely a function
of, "Oh, the eyesight

isn't really being connected"

or is it a process
that happens more over time?

Understanding
what that connection is,

I think, is a very deep
and interesting question.

STEPHEN LOMBER:
I think when you consider
individuals that have

a severely impaired sense,
like blindness or deafness,

they're gonna have
a very different reality

than people that have
more or less intact senses.

But don't think of it
in terms just of the loss,

but the fact that they're
gonna have amplifications

in their remaining
intact senses.

OCKELDORD:
The great thing about Derek
is Derek the person.

He's so much more
than a clever musician.

Derek is above all
a people person.

So, he makes
his music for people.

He'll remember people he meets

in terms
of the pieces they like.

He may not remember the name,
but he'll remember

a particular piece of music
they asked for,

even ten or 20 years later.

(cheering, applause)

Derek Paravicini's
extraordinary gifts

are a reminder
that genius can take

many different inspiring forms.

But there are other stories
of genius

that are not an inspiration,

but rather a cautionary tale.

Like in the case of a man
who started out life

as a mathematical prodigy

but later became better known...

...as the Unabomber.

SHATNER:
A 16-year-old math prodigy

is invited to attend
Harvard University,

one of only a handful
ever to be admitted so young.

As an adult, he goes on
to become a brilliant

and distinguished
mathematics professor.

His name is Ted Kaczynski

or, as he's better known today,

the Unabomber.

Ted Kaczynski
was a brilliant man,

a wunderkind
when he was a child,

who turned all that brilliance
and genius towards evil.

REPORTER:
The Unabomber has been
spreading terror

one small bomb at a time
for 17 years.

WIEHL:
From 1978 until 1995,

Ted Kaczynski
bombed universities,

tech centers, an airline.

Three people died, then 20-some
were maimed over the time.

And he would transport the bombs
in different ways.

Some he mailed,

and others he would
actually deliver it, leave,

and then sit back
and wait for the reaction.

He kept the nation
in suspense and fear.

People were afraid
of opening mail.

JOEL MOSS:
The term Unabomb comes from
the code word given to the case

because the initial few bombs
appeared to have something to do

with either universities
or with the airline industry.

Now, later, there were
other targets,

but by then,
the codename for the case

had already been chosen.

SHATNER:
But what led Ted Kaczynski
down such a dark path?

Many researchers believe
it traces back

to when he was identified

as being
exceptionally intelligent

when he was very young.

Ted Kaczynski
is a very interesting case

because, evidently,

he was a pretty well-adapted kid
in elementary school,

and actually was considered
to be something of a leader.

And then somebody
got the bright idea

that he should take an IQ test.

He did, and he got
an IQ score of 167.

You have to have 140
to be defined as a genius.

So what's 167?

That's one
out of a million people.

WIEHL:
It was recommended by the school

that he skip a grade
when he was only ten years old.

So, to skip from fifth
to seventh grade.

The problem with it is

he was with older kids
that he didn't know.

He became more and more
socially isolated.

David, his younger brother,
reports that, at one point,

Kaczynski was being
very mean to him.

And Ted says, "Well, sometimes,
geniuses can be sadistic."

He was acknowledging that,

as a genius, he could be bad,

sadistic, and he could work
that genius for evil.

SHATNER:
Ted Kaczynski graduated
from Harvard in 1962,

at the age of 20.

He then pursued his PhD
at the University of Michigan,

where he did groundbreaking work
in the field of mathematics.

PUCKETT:
One of the hallmarks
of his intelligence was,

in the late '60s,

he won an award for his
dissertation, in fact, his PhD

in mathematics
at Ann Arbor in Michigan

because he solved a theorem
that had been thought unsolvable

for decades by mathematicians.

He solved it and published it.

WIEHL:
From Michigan, then he went to
Berkeley to teach mathematics.

He was the youngest
assistant professor

that the mathematics department
had ever had.

But the students hated him,
absolutely loathed him.

Didn't have any class hours,
he wouldn't talk to them.

I mean, he was very disdainful
of everybody.

PUCKETT:
His genius was in everything

but social commerce
with other people.

He wasn't able to negotiate

the social world
with other people.

And so, he grew convinced

that he had to get away
from people, away from society.

SHATNER:
In 1969, Kaczynski

suddenly and
unexpectedly resigned

from his position at Berkley.

He then withdrew from society

by moving to Lincoln, Montana,

where he lived in a small cabin

that did not have
running water or electricity.

WIEHL:
The cabin was just this
rustic place off the grid,

eight by 12 feet.

That was his getting off
the grid and getting so far away

from civilization, everything.

PUCKETT:
He was very happy when
he first moved to the woods.

He wrote rapturously about it,
about how beautiful it was.

But then planes
started flying overhead.

He noticed motorcyclists
riding through the forest

and disturbing the nature
that he was glorying in.

It turned to bitter hatred
of the technological society.

He viewed technology as evil,

as the evolution
of technology as evil,

and the technical class

as perverting the human spirit.

MOSS:
What he discovers is

he can't get away
from society, even there.

The society
that he's trying to escape

is closing in on him anyway.

And there's nothing
he can do about it,

so he strikes back.

PUCKETT:
He had taught himself
bomb making.

He ended up creating
chemical mixes,

melting his own components
and casting them

and putting them
into the devices,

carving wood to make
specific trigger switches.

He was a brilliant criminal
in that

he was able to expertly

exclude anything
identifying himself;

any hairs, any fibers,
any fingerprints.

He was unlike any bomber
that we had seen before.

SHATNER:
In 1978,

Kaczynski carried out
his first attack

by mailing a parcel
containing a homemade bomb

to Northwestern University.

It was the beginning
of a reign of terror

during which he carried out
a total of 16 bombings

over the course
of nearly two decades.

For Kaczynski, these attacks
were not random killings,

but rather targeted strikes

against the institutions
he believed represented

technological society.

His purpose was
to wake people up

to the dangers of technology.

He would not have been able
to promote his views

if he had not
gotten the attention

of the media and the government
and law enforcement

by killing people
with his bombs.

That was his goal.

SHATNER:
In 1995, Kaczynski
wrote an anonymous

35,000 word
anti-technology manifesto

that he demanded to be published
in major newspapers.

Ironically, it was a decision
that would lead to his undoing.

PUCKETT:
Ted's brother David
had read the manifesto,

and phrases jumped out
at David right away.

And he had tried
to push them down.

"It can't be, it can't be."

There were phrases
that appeared in the manifesto

that were unusual spellings
that appeared,

that were unusual,
and David recognized him.

The upshot was that, finally,
David and his wife

went to an attorney
in D.C. and said,

"We'd like to approach the FBI."

SHATNER:
On April 3rd, 1996,

FBI agents finally arrested
Kaczynski at his Montana cabin.

He was found guilty
on all counts

that were charged
in the indictment.

Had the Unabomb Manifesto
not been published,

it's my view that we probably
would still be looking

for Theodore Kaczynski.

WIEHL:
Ted's evil genius

helped him build bombs
that nobody could trace.

And yet, the evil genius

needed to be fed with hubris

and acknowledgement.

And that, ultimately,
was his downfall.

SHATNER:
Albert Einstein,
the celebrated physicist

considered to be
the father of modern physics,

dies at the age of 76.

While Einstein's wish
is to be cremated,

Princeton hospital
chief pathologist Thomas Harvey

must first determine
the cause of death.

But with the body
of Albert Einstein

on the autopsy table,

Harvey's interest is drawn
to something else.

He wanted to find out

what made Albert Einstein tick.

And he sees, "Wow,

there's the source of it all.
The brain."

LEPORE:
There was something about
the brain that fascinated him,

and with no small amount
of effort,

he cut the skull,
removed the brain,

perfused it with formaldehyde,

and the next morning
The New York Times says that

Thomas Harvey has preserved
the brain for scientific study.

SHATNER:
Thomas Harvey believed
that somewhere

within Einstein's brain
was the secret to his genius.

So he persuaded Einstein's son
Hans Albert

to let him do a study
of his father's brain.

LEPORE:
Hans Albert
and Einstein's executor

came down to speak
to Harvey about it.

And Harvey impressed upon them
just the uniqueness

and criticality of looking
at Einstein's brain

as a way of approaching
how people

of intellect and genius think.

SHATNER:
Harvey took more than a dozen
photos of Einstein's brain,

dissected it,
and shaved off thin slices

for microscopic study.

But years passed,
and Harvey never published

any papers
or scientific observations.

He also
never returned the brain,

but rather stole it
and kept it for himself,

with no intention
of ever giving it back.

Once Thomas Harvey
had the brain,

he didn't let it
out of his sight.

He left his position
as chief of pathology

at Princeton Hospital

and he headed out to the Midwest

and he went into
general practice.

But the brain
was always with him,

stored in two large glass jars

and in cardboard boxes.

EBNER:
There's been
a historical trend of

examining the brains
or the gray matter

of geniuses

to try and find out
what makes them tick.

There's a fine line

between science
and grave robbing.

Harvey got a little bit
greedy here because

not only did he
swipe Einstein's brain,

it was basically a memento
for him to have on his shelf.

You'd think that the next of kin

might have something
to say about it.

LEPORE:
Harvey segued from his job,

which is to determine
the cause of death of a patient

at Princeton Hospital,
and he did that

when he completed the autopsy.

And at that point,
all we know is that

he didn't want to hand it over,
and that's why he said,

"I keep Einstein's brain.

I'm the pathologist,
and I'm studying it."

SHATNER:
Two decades after the death
of Albert Einstein,

the rest of his body
had been cremated,

his wife and children
had passed away,

and the world
had all but forgotten

about what happened
to the famed physicist's brain.

But that all changed in 1978,

when a young reporter
named Steven Levy

tracked down the whereabouts
of Einstein's brain

for a magazine article

and discovered
that Thomas Harvey

was still in possession
of Einstein's brain.

EBNER:
Levy wrote about this,

and all of a sudden,

it brought renewed interest

to what in the hell was going on
with Albert Einstein's brain.

So, the medical community
was scratching their heads.

They were like,
"Okay, he's got the brain,

"in pieces, as it were.

Let's have a closer look."

SHATNER:
As it turns out, when Harvey
gave back the dissected pieces

of the brain, scientists made
a remarkable discovery.

A discovery
that could finally reveal

the secret behind
Einstein's genius.

SHATNER:
Neurologist Frederick Lepore
is given the rare opportunity

to photograph the remains
of Einstein's brain.

The pathologist brought out
two jars containing

little gauze-wrapped cubes,

which were the remaining
sections of Einstein's brain.

That's a very interesting
and provocative moment.

How did that inanimate
brain tissue develop

world-shaking theories?

And the process begins
by looking at the anatomy

and trying to see
if it can give us

some answers to the question of,

"Why was Einstein
such a profound genius?"

SHATNER:
What made
Albert Einstein different?

It's a question
that Thomas Harvey

first asked in 1955,

and one that led him
to steal Einstein's brain

in hopes of getting an answer.

I had the opportunity
to meet with Thomas Harvey

in retirement
in the spring of 2000.

He'd never really
had given up that dream

of trying to,
from every possible avenue,

look at this piece of tissue

and try to come up with answers
as to Einstein's genius.

SHATNER:
In 2007, Thomas Harvey
died of a cerebral hemorrhage.

Ironically,
because Thomas Harvey stole

Einstein's brain and
preserved it for so many years,

scientists had the opportunity
to examine it

with modern technology.

And when they did,

they discovered that the brain
of this visionary genius

was, in fact, different.

JOHN MARTIN:
Neuroscientists found that
Einstein's brain

had enlarged parietal lobes.

And, in addition,
they found that

part of the parietal lobe,

instead of having
all these grooves,

it was sort of an enlarged,
flattened area.

And so it looked
quite remarkable.

LEPORE: The parietal lobe is an
area of the brain that helps us

with visual spatial recognition.

And neuropathologists'
conclusion

was the exceptional brain
of Albert Einstein

was due to
the parietal lobe being

anatomically different
from the human norm.

McMAHON:
Genius is a combination
of innate ability,

but also, then, it's very clear
that human beings

believe that geniuses are
exception to the ordinary laws

of nature or of humanity.

That they can do what
ordinary human beings can't.

Literally picking the brains
of a visionary person

sounds a little gruesome,

but if there is one mind
that holds the secret

of genius,
it would be Albert Einstein's.

Imagine what it would be like
to find the key

to unlocking the human brain's
full potential.

Mm. It's a fascinating
possibility to explore.

However, the true nature
of genius may ultimately lie

just beyond our grasp

and remain unexplained.

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