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The name "Einstein" is now-a-days synonymous with the word "Genius." And he was, by most people's standards, a genius. But why? Why was Einstein able to conjure up relativity and not some other no-named physicist?
Until recently, it was thought that Einstein was physically the same as everyone else (there were studies done in the '70's that said that Einstein had more Gila cells than the average person; but that was never proved-The brain is very complex and mysterious).
There was a study done by scientists at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ont. that proved that part of Einstein's brain was bigger than normal, although the weight of his brain remained average. That specific part of the brain is known as the Parietal Region. It is thought to control mathematical reasoning, image perception, and logical thinking. In Einstein, the Parietal Region is 15% bigger than average. And if you put two and two together, it becomes apparent why Einstein was so intelligent.
But that was not the only difference in Einstein's brain. There is a gap that runs from the front of the brain to the back separating the two hemispheres called the Sulcus. That is not the case with Einstein's brain. The Sulcus did not run all the way to the back of the brain. From that, you can conclude that the two hemispheres of his brain, the right and the left, were able to communicate better. And the more communication there is between the two hemispheres, the more it contributes to intelligence.
Einstein also had an excellent ability to concentrate under difficult circumstances. But he was only able to concentrate on things that interested him. Einstein was able to work very complex equations one minuet and the next he would spend with his kids. That might not sound like much but it required an ability concentrate that not many people have.
As for Einstein's IQ, I don't know. I don't know if he even took an IQ test. Although I did read somewhere that his estimated IQ was around 180; average IQ is 100 and the scale is exponential (meaning the difference between 100 and 105 is far less than the difference between 170 and 175).