The fine line between genius and insanty is finer than we may have thought

The fine line between insanity and genius has been a topic of historical and social discussion for quite some time.  Books, news stories, and movies, have all at times showcased similar tales of mad scientists, eccentric businessmen, and over-the-top leaders of nations.  The innovators, leaders, and creators of history were often also considered "crazy" by many of their peers.  Nikola Tesla, Joan of Arc, Garret Morgan, Harriet Tubman, Carl Sagan, Ludwig Van Beethoven, Benjamin Franklin, Leonardo Di Vinci, Howard Hughes, and many more, were sometimes considered crazy by the standards of their day, and arguably even by standards of today.  

Out of those examples, lets look at Nikola Tesla for example, talked to pigeons, had a obsession over the number three, and was creeped out by women's jewelry, other peoples hair, and germs.  By today's standards and back at the turn of the 20th century, Tesla was largely considered having one or more mental illnesses.  However, the man could do complicated math problems in his head, before anyone thought of complicated adding machines, super-computers, or calculators.  He had schematics for complex inventions stored in his head.  He performed large scale experiments that involved sending electricity without wires to power light bulbs 30 miles away.  This is an experiment that has not been replicated to this day.   His biggest contribution was that he came up powering the country (and essentially the world) with alternating current, taking 19th century society out of the world of candles and gas lamps, into the 20th century world of lights, computers, and cell phones.  Wireless remote control?  Tesla.  Radar?  Tesla.  Electric car starter?  Tesla.  We would have not been able to use a cell phone, listen to the radio, use the internet, start our car engines, or even power our appliances had it not been for Tesla.  Yet, the man was clearly insane.    

In 2010, Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, did a scientific study to address if there is indeed a connection between genius and insanity.  Without getting into the weeds, it found that those who are very creative people have certain brain receptors that are very similar to those found in diagnosed schizophrenics.  So essentially, science adds credence to the belief that the fine line between insanity and genius apparently is razor thin. 

It's very easy to look at a creative thinker and assume insanity.  The ideas, determination, and innovations, and often personalities of these types of people, are outside of the mainstream.  Furthermore, they often do not care what the mainstream thinks of their ideas, even if their innovations and ideas stand to benefit the same people that find them nutty.  You have to think outside of "normal" to march to the beat of your own drum without shame or hesitation.  And for this reason, these types of men and women show the same lack of hesitation to act boldly, and who lack the fear of ridicule and failure. Decades, even hundreds of years after the deaths of these historical figures who walked the fine line between genius and madness; their inventions, ideas, literature, music, and innovations remain with us to this day.  So, the next time you see that eccentric, possibly socially awkward person, he may already have one foot into a mental institution, or he may be the future inventor of a speed-of-light spacecraft.