Ten Things You May Not Know About Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein is one of the most famous geniuses in history. You may know him as a physicist and mathematician, but there's more to Einstein than meets the eye.

A Closer Look At Genius

1. Although it was not a diagnosis at the time, Albert Einstein was believed to be on the autism spectrum. Certain behaviors of his - like disliking touch, having difficulty in social situations, and having trouble in school - were in line with what was later defined as autism.
2. Just because he was a genius in physics and math doesn't mean he was good at everything. Einstein played the violin but had a very hard time counting rhythms.
3. Einstein always planned to be cremated, but after he died, a pathologist named Thomas Harvey stole his brain. Harvey thought Einstein's brain could hold the key to his genius, but he didn't make any significant discoveries before Einstein's family found out about the theft.
4. There were, in fact, unique features to Einstein's brain that may be the answer to how he was so smart. Some parts of the brain were thicker than average, which could mean he had a stronger connection between the two hemispheres.
5. In 1947, he co-authored a top-secret paper on what to do if humans contact aliens with J. Robert Oppenheimer, the father of the atomic bomb. Some people think this was Einstein's way of telling the world he knew something about aliens we didn't. Others whisper an off-the-wall theory that Einstein was smart because of aliens.
6. Einstein wasn't the first one to discover the principles of his Theory of Relativity, but he was the first to treat it as a physical law. Ten years before Einstein published his theory, a Dutch physicist named Hendrik Lorentz tested the ideas but didn't think they applied to real life.
7. People did not take Einstein's Theory of Relativity seriously when he first published it.
8. He was apparently exhausted when that iconic tongue picture was taken. It was taken on Einstein's 72nd birthday, and after fake-smiling for paparazzi all night, he playfully stuck out his tongue at a photographer instead.
9. Einstein was nothing if not ahead of the curve. Before age 30, he had already published his famous theories of special and general relativity.
10. Einstein definitely had innate mental gifts, but he didn't think that's what made him so successful. Instead, he claimed that his persistence was what really set him apart from everyone else in his field.

This article first appeared on Curiosity.com.