What happens when a pathologist steals the brain of one of history's greatest geniuses? In one of the most bizarre tales from scientific history, we dive into the unauthorized removal of Albert Einstein's brain during his 1955 autopsy and the strange 40-year journey that followed. Despite Einstein's explicit wishes to be cremated without fanfare, pathologist Thomas Stoltz Harvey took the physicist's brain, cut it into hundreds of pieces, and kept it stored in basements and next to beer cases while his own life unraveled around him.

But Einstein's story is just the beginning. We pivot to explore an equally fascinating experiment in genius-making as Hungarian educator Laszlo Polgar sets out to prove that extraordinary ability can be created through specialized early education. After studying hundreds of historical geniuses, Polgar and his wife decided to test their theory on their three daughters using chess as the perfect objective measure of success.

The results were nothing short of remarkable. From their modest Budapest apartment transformed into a chess laboratory, Susan, Sophia, and Judith Polgar emerged as chess prodigies, with the youngest defeating grandmasters by age 11 and becoming the youngest person ever to achieve the grandmaster title. Their story challenges our understanding of how genius develops and whether it can be manufactured through intensive, specialized training.

These parallel tales – one about studying the physical remnants of genius and another about attempting to create it – raise profound questions about human potential. Are extraordinary abilities present from birth, waiting to be discovered? Or can they be cultivated in anyone with the right approach? Either way, both stories reveal our fascination with understanding what makes exceptional minds tick and the lengths we'll go to unlock these secrets.

Ready to have your mind blown by these true tales of brains, chess, and the pursuit of genius? Join us for an episode that will make you question everything you thought you knew about human potential.

Protocols.io Autopsy and Brain Collection and Fixation

https://www.protocols.io/view/autopsy-and-brain-collection-and-fixation-n92ldm6nnl5b/v1?step=6

National Geographic by Virginia Hughes

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/premium/article/the-tragic-story-of-how-einsteins-brain-was-stolen-and-wasnt-even-special

My dad has Einstein's brain by David Adam

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2004/apr/08/science.research1

How to make a genius according to László Polgar By Ola Francis

https://olamidefrancis.medium.com/how-to-make-a-genius-according-to-l%C3%A1szl%C3%B3-polgar-i-e0b5e0d20398

VIDEO-ONLY 19 MOVES! Judit Polgar Beats Magnus Carlsen with a Nice TRICK in Sicilian Defense (2022) by c

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