Einstein’s Genius Wasn’t in His Brain; It Was in His Friends

New Scientific Insights on the Source of Creativity Show How Social Networks Drive Ideas

In 2017, the “Genius” issue of National Geographic credited Albert Einstein’s ability to harness the power of his “own thoughts” to predict gravity waves, a century before gravity waves were detected using highly sophisticated technologies. Does this prove that Einstein really was, as many have claimed, the “genius of all geniuses?”

Einstein and his brain are iconic objects—a sacred scientific hero and a sacred relic––but thinking differently about him now can help us revise outdated ideas about genius and about ourselves. There are several reasons to question Einstein’s genius: First, …

Genius Alone Doesn’t Advance Big Ideas

World-Changing Thought Depends on the Social Context, Too

Where do big new ideas come from—the kind that break the mold and change how we see the world? As a sociologist, this has long been an interest of mine. …

Name That Tune: Da-Da-Da-DUM

Matthew Guerrieri On Beethoven’s Fifth and the Curious Workings of Genius

They may be the most easily recognizable four notes of music ever composed, but the opening of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony confounds orchestras and conductors with its very notation: a rest …

Misbehave, Kids, So You Can Become a Genius

Are the Insights In Creativity Literature Making Us Any More Creative?

Few subjects have received more attention and study than creativity. But it also takes, well, creativity to put research into practice, and there’s no consensus that 21st century society has …

The Silence Before the Symphony

The First Four Notes

The opening notes to Beethoven’s Fifth might be one of the most easily recognizable musical passages ever written. But to unaccustomed ears, the symphony’s opening can be confounding, explains Boston …