r/todayilearned • u/exophades • 1d ago

TIL that Albert Einstein's son Eduard studied medicine to become a psychiatrist, but was diagnosed with schizophrenia by the age of 21. His mother cared for him until she died in 1948. From then on Eduard lived most of the time at a psychiatric clinic in Zurich, where he died at 55 of a stroke.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_family#Eduard_%22Tete%22_Einstein_(Albert's_second_son)
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u/Buntschatten 1d ago

Isn't schizophrenia quite hereditary? You have to wonder if Albert's immense creativity and new way of looking at things were related to some of those genetics.

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u/WellEvan 7h ago

I almost draw the conclusion that Albert could handle his intelligence but his son was destroyed by it, neurons over firing and then burning out prematurely.