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Einstein was famous for many of his theories, but would he have been able to theorize what happened to his brain? It would take almost twenty years after the celebrated scientist’s death for the world to discover what happened to his cranium.
On April 18th, 1955, the great physicist passed away at the age of 76 in the United States. While Einstein’s wish was to be fully cremated, the pathologist hired to perform an autopsy had other plans. Without familial permission, Dr. Thomas Harvey removed Albert’s brain in order to study it, hoping that maybe some answers to the scientist’s genius could be found in the makeup of his brain. Dissecting it into many pieces, Harvey began to send samples to labs for testing and study. While getting permission from Albert’s son after the deed had been done, the public would not fully understand what had happened until a few decades passed.
📍Eistenhaus Bern
While reporting on a story in 1978, writer Steven Levy discovered the few parts of Einstein’s brain in Dr. Harvey’s office in Wichita, Kansas. For over twenty years, Harvey had kept them in two large mason jars in a cider box, unbeknownst to the reading world–most people at that time had thought the scientist was fully cremated! Never able to fully prove that Einstein’s brain structure was the reason behind his genius, Harvey eventually gave the brain sections back to Einstein’s family in the early 1990s.
After living a life on the road, the many pieces of Einstein’s brain have finally found some peace. Many sections can be found in the Mutter Museum in Pennsylvania, while the rest can be observed at the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Washington, D.C. We have a theory they’re much happier there than in a box.
