This is a question that no-one really knows the definite answer to, although a lot of people are interested. On the physical level, our best guess so far is that it has to do with geniuses being able to make denser patterns of neural connection than the average person, and the patterns made being more "effective" somehow, since the brains of geniuses are no larger than the average brain (in fact, Einstein's brain was rather on the small side of average). Another hypothesis holds that while geniuses don't have larger brains than average, their brains might have more surface area than average because of more intense folding of the surface, thus resulting in more healthy neurons available. (There are disorders known as microgyria, where more neurons than normal are produced, but these neurons are crowded, small, and disorganised because of the crowding, so they result in mental retardation rather than genius). On the functional level, patterns of thinking are definitely different from those of the average person, at least in some areas -- but just how and why is poorly understood.

The term 'genius' is applied not only to persons of high general IQ but also to persons who are savants, i.e. who have exceptional ability or exceptional knowledge in a single area, such as graphic art, or mathematics or political acumen (Winston Churchill, for example). In the case of a person I know, he did not make high grades in school, but tended to be off in daydresms much of the time. In junior highschool he was given an IQ test and made grades on verbal/conceptual abilities and vocabulary comparable to the level of a post graduate in college. Under close scrutiny, by highly qualified evaluators, it was learned that his problems in expressing himself were a result of the fact that he could take into account multiple aspects of an issue all at the same time. What teachers and fellow students experienced as gibberish in his speaking and writing, made much sense -- but only after being broken down into individual pieces, and each piece explained and assembled patiently, so that other persons could get the picture. The problem THEN, however, was that something this person had written in, say, one hundred words became a thousand words. And then his explanations were criticized on grounds they were verbose, and too complex. This person has solved problems in business that others could not solve. But even then he has offered a solution to a problem an employer had, only to have administrative superiors respond that his proposals did "not make sense" or, if they did, were "too long and wordy" to have to read through. ONLY when this individual finally was allowed by an employer to put into motion some of his proposed solutions to highly complex problemss an employer had, was it learned that his solutions worked fantastically, in getting desired results. He was in his fifties before this ever happened. And his ideas saved more than one employer millions of dollars, or increased profits by that much. Yet, even then, he was accused of being "lucky." Once I asked this person why he did not use his 'genius' to find ways to communicate his ideas to others more efficiently. He responded by asking me, "Why don't you use your intelligence to figure out a way to take five minutes and teach a class of third graders integral calculus?"

The person with an I.Q. of l50 is considered having a genuis mind. l50 and below works well. anything above 150 can cross the line from a genuis mind into a physcological nightmare. A genuis mind works on a different wave length, than normal human beings. we see a problem one way, they see it in an entirely different light.