Left-Handed Compliments

Scientists have long thought that a single gene caused left-handedness, but that hypothesis is wrong. There are multiple genes, and multiple environmental factors responsible.

Shedding Light on the Riddle of Lefties and Righties [bold added]

The new study on multiple genetic variations, published in the journal Nature Human Behavior, involved 1.7 million people and is the largest genetic study of hand preference ever conducted. An international consortium of 118 scientists led by Sarah Medland, head of the psychiatric genetics group at the QIMR Berghofer Medical Research Institute in Brisbane, Australia, discovered 41 genetic variations active only among people who are left-handed. They also detected another seven genetic variants associated only with people who are ambidextrous—able to use either hand with equal facility.

The percentage of left-handers is about 10% worldwide, and the percentages vary by ethnicity and geography.

Just a subjective assessment: the ranks of famous people who are left-handed do seem well above 10% of that cohort. An abbreviated list of lefties who changed the course of the 20th century includes Albert Einstein, Bill Gates, Neil Armstrong, Winston Churchill, Marie Curie, Henry Ford, Paul McCartney, Oprah Winfrey, Steve Jobs, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ronald Reagan, and Bill Clinton.

The above subjective assessment is also corroborated by personal experience: the number of lefties among the talented, smart, and high-achieving people I have met seems much higher than 10%. Their brains are wired different...and probably better.

Below--left-handers who achieved fame in the 21st century: