Who was Thomas Stoltz Harvey and what did he do with Einstein's brain?
Thomas Stoltz Harvey (the 10th of October 1912 - the 5th of April 2007) was an American pathologist who performed Albert Einstein's autopsy at Princeton Hospital on the 18th of April 1955. Harvey removed and preserved Einstein's brain, later sectioning it into 170 pieces and distributing slide sets to leading pathologists for scientific study.
Did Einstein's family give permission for Harvey to remove his brain?
No permission was given by Einstein or his family at the time of removal. When the family learned about the study, they granted retrospective permission on the condition that findings be published only in scientific journals and not sensationalized.
What did scientists discover when they studied Einstein's brain?
Marian Diamond and associates found that Einstein's brain had a higher proportion of glial cells relative to neurons than the average male brain, with the difference reaching statistical significance only in the left inferior parietal area. The sections used for analysis were each 6 micrometers thick, examined under a microscope.
Where is Einstein's brain kept today?
In 2010, Harvey's heirs transferred all remaining holdings, including 14 previously unreleased photographs of the whole brain, to the National Museum of Health and Medicine. Harvey had delivered the remaining uncut portion to Dr. Elliot Krauss at University Medical Center at Princeton back in 1998.
What were the main criticisms of Marian Diamond's study of Einstein's brain?
S. S. Kantha of the Osaka Bioscience Institute and Terence Hines of Pace University criticized Diamond's study. A key objection was that Einstein's 76-year-old brain was compared to control brains averaging only 64 years of age, even though glial cells continue dividing with age, which could account for the higher ratio.
Where did Thomas Stoltz Harvey keep Einstein's brain for decades?
Harvey moved with the brain across several locations. In 1978 he was working in Wichita, Kansas; he retired in 1988 to Lawrence, Kansas; and by 1996 had moved to Titusville in Hopewell Township, Mercer County, New Jersey. He delivered the remaining uncut portion to Princeton in 1998.