Thomas Stoltz Harvey

• 1. Medical Education And Tuberculosis

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  Thomas Stoltz Harvey entered Yale University as an undergraduate before pursuing medical training under the guidance of Dr. Harry Zimmerman. His path through medical school took a sharp turn during his third year when he contracted tuberculosis. The disease forced him into bed for an entire year within a sanatorium facility. Harvey later described this period of enforced stillness as one of the biggest disappointments of his life. This physical setback occurred while he was building the foundation for his future career in pathology.

• 2. The Einstein Autopsy Procedure

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  Princeton Hospital hosted the autopsy on the 18th of April 1955 at 8:00 am. Albert Einstein's brain weighed 1,230 grams which fell well within the normal range for human brains. Dr. Harvey sectioned the preserved organ into 170 pieces inside a laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania. That meticulous process required three full months to complete. He then sliced those sections into microscopic slivers and mounted them onto slides for staining. Twelve sets of slides emerged from the work with hundreds of slides contained within each set. Harvey kept two complete sets for his own research while distributing the remainder to handpicked leading pathologists of that era. No permission for removal or preservation had been granted by Einstein or his family initially. When the family eventually learned about the study they allowed it to proceed under strict conditions. Results could only be published in scientific journals without any sensationalism.

• 3. Forty Three Years Of Custody

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  New Jersey Monthly reporter Steven Levy published an article titled I Found Einstein's Brain in August 1978. The piece was based on an interview with Harvey who worked at a medical test laboratory in Wichita, Kansas at the time. Harvey retired in 1988 and moved to Lawrence, Kansas near William Burroughs. He relocated again in 1996 from Weston, Missouri to Titusville in Hopewell Township, Mercer County, New Jersey. A 1994 documentary called Relics: Einstein's Brain featured Kinki University Professor Sugimoto Kenji asking Harvey for a piece of the brain. Footage showed Harvey segmenting and handing over a portion of the brain-stem to the professor. In 1998 Harvey delivered the remaining uncut portion of Einstein's brain to Dr. Elliot Krauss at the University Medical Center at Princeton. This period spanned forty-three years before the public exposure of the specimen.

• 4. Scientific Studies And Glial Cells

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  Marian Diamond and associates discovered that certain parts of Einstein's brain contained a higher proportion of glial cells than the average male brain. She compared the ratio of these cells in Einstein's brain against preserved brains from eleven other males. Glial cells provide support and nutrition while forming myelin and participating in signal transmission within the brain. Diamond's laboratory created thin sections of Einstein's brain each measuring 6 micrometers thick. They used microscopes to count the individual cells found within those slices. The study published in Experimental Neurology in 1985 noted that Einstein's brain had more glial cells relative to neurons in all areas studied. Only the left inferior parietal area showed a statistically significant difference. This region belongs to the association cortex responsible for incorporating information from multiple other brain regions. A stimulating environment can increase the proportion of glial cells and this high ratio might result from Einstein's life studying scientific problems. Critics like S. S. Kantha of the Osaka Bioscience Institute and Terence Hines of Pace University challenged the findings. Diamond admitted her limitation involved comparing one Einstein to eleven normal intelligence individuals. The control group brains averaged 64 years in age while Einstein's was 76.

• 5. Distribution And Final Disposition

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  In 2005 Harvey gave interviews regarding the history of the brain from his home in New Jersey at the age of 92. He died at the University Medical Center at Princeton on the 5th of April 2007 due to complications of a stroke. His heirs transferred all holdings constituting the remains of Albert Einstein's brain to the National Museum of Health and Medicine in 2010. This transfer included 14 photographs of the whole brain prior to sectioning which were never before revealed to the public. These images provided rare visual documentation of the organ before it was cut into pieces. The museum now holds the physical remnants alongside the historical records of their acquisition.

• 6. Media Portrayals And Documentaries

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  The story of Harvey's autopsy appeared in an episode of the Science Channel show Dark Matters: Twisted But True. That series premiered on the 7th of September 2011 and explores the darker side of scientific discovery and experimentation. A program segment titled The Secrets of Einstein's Brain re-aired on the History Channel on the 4th of June 2016. A documentary called Relics: Einstein's Brain aired in 1994 featuring footage of Harvey working with the specimen. Books such as Driving Mr. Albert by Michael Paterniti and Possessing Genius by Carolyn Abraham documented the bizarre odyssey of the brain. A 2023 film titled The Man Who Stole Einstein's Brain further explored the narrative surrounding the pathologist and his actions.