Everyone knows that the body of Vladimir Ilyich Lenin lies on public display in the mausoleum on Red Square. Did you know that Lenin's brain was seized and examined in detail in search of the secret of genius? Yes, a whole scientific institute was opened for this purpose.
V. I. Lenin died on January 21, 1924. The very next day, Lenin's brains and other organs of the leader were removed. Since contemporaries considered Vladimir Ilyich a genius, it was assumed that studying Lenin's brain would provide answers to the reasons for the uniqueness of his thinking. And the first to show interest in the brain were the special services, or rather, the special department of the Cheka, headed by Gleb Ivanovich Bokia and his deputy– Alexander Barchenko.
Barchenko was a unique man, a talented scientist who anticipated many discoveries of the future in his works. But he did not find anything unusual in Lenin's brain. And then the politicians got down to business – Lenin was too iconic a person to miss the opportunity to use him as a symbol, including his "genius" brain.
The best Soviet neuromorphologists were involved in the study: A. I. Abrikosov, G. I. Rossolimo, S. A. Sarkisov and others. Still, it wasn't enough. Therefore, on the advice of Clara Zetkin, the famous German professor Oskar Vogt, head of the Kaiser Wilhelm Society for the Advancement of Science Brain Research Institute in Germany, was invited.
A German professor said that in order to study Lenin's brain, it must be cut into the thinnest plates, and studied, including in Germany. The authorities refused to export such an important detail of the leader outside the country, but offered Vogt to work in the USSR and head a new Brain Research Institute at the Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, which was soon established on the basis of a laboratory that studied Lenin's brain for this purpose.
There is evidence from scientists that Lenin's brain was in very poor condition and weighed only 1,340 grams, which is considered significantly below the norm for a man (Byron's brain, for example, is 1800 grams, and Turgenev's is 2012 grams). The fact is that Vladimir Ilyich was ill for a long time and died of atherosclerosis, which greatly affected the vessels of the brain, especially the left hemisphere. For this reason, the less affected right hemisphere was presented for study.
From 1925 to 1930, Oskar Vogt worked in Moscow, for 2 years he cut Lenin's brain into pieces: with the help of a special microtome device brought by Vogt from Germany, 30963 thinnest slices were made. Next, they were painted with a contrast agent and each was placed between the glasses in order to further study them as slides.
In 1927, Vogt concluded that the third and fifth layers of the frontal cortex of Lenin's brain were more developed than similar layers of an ordinary person, because here he discovered unusually large pyramidal cells, which, allegedly, he had previously found in the motor parts of the athletes' brains. Summarizing these data, Vogt called Lenin's brain an "athlete of associations." Soviet newspapers immediately announced that the reasons for Lenin's genius had been found.
But Oskar Vogt himself stated that the Soviet equipment did not allow him to perform a more detailed study and, under this pretext, took several slices to Germany. In 1929, Vogt made a report on his research in Germany and handed over the slides he had exported to Professor Spielrein for study. The scientific discussion resulted in an international scandal, because Spielrein unequivocally stated that such large pyramidal cells are found in people suffering from dementia. What actually happened to Lenin in the last days of his life: he spoke and wrote poorly, and was partially paralyzed.
Thus, the genius of the leader of the proletariat and his entire legacy came into question. After that, the Soviet government confiscated Oskar Vogt's equipment and cancelled his visa.
Further research of Lenin's brain by Russian scientists did not yield any outstanding results. All referred to the limitations of morphological research methods. Nevertheless, on May 27, 1936, the report "Studying Lenin's Brain" was compiled, in which, based on measuring the furrows of the frontal lobes and comparing them with the size of the brain furrows of other prominent people, the authors concluded that Lenin's brain power equated to the work of ten hemispheres of an ordinary person. However, these works were not widely publicized. So Lenin's brain slices are still stored at the Brain Institute in anticipation of innovative techniques.
«To this day, no connection has been found between the structure of the brain and giftedness» – Vladimir Skrebitsky, head of the laboratory of functional Synaptology of the brain.
Today, scientists rely on genetic research. Preserved slices of the brains of great people are excellent material for research, searches and sensations.
We, in turn, can say that new techniques will not find genius in the brain. Because the brain is just a receiver and transmitter, you can compare it to the on–board computer of a car, which receives and transmits information from sensors, and generates response signals with minimal processing. And we really haven't explored all the possibilities of the brain yet, simply because we still know about 6 types of energy, and there are at least 32 of them. And the human brain works with everyone.
But genius lies in a completely different plane – it is the ability to analyze large amounts of information, compare, draw conclusions, gain experience, take into account a lot of factors and offer solutions to choose from – human consciousness is responsible for this. Consciousness is a field structure that is located above the head, outside the human body. So all attempts to find genius in the brain are doomed to failure.
But there is also someone in us who chooses between one or another solution proposed by our Consciousness – this is a real person – Personality. And personality is only partly a field structure, but mostly it is an immaterial, spiritual entity. So no matter how much you examine the brain of Lenin or another person, do not decompose it into molecules and atoms – it's just a piece of flesh. That's all.
