Thomas Stoltz Harvey (October 10 1912 – April 5 2007) was a pathologist who conducted the autopsy on Albert Einstein in 1955. He kept Einstein's brain after the autopsy, apparently without permission from the Einstein family. The managing director of the Einstein Memorial Hospital expected Dr. Harvey to write a report on Einstein's brain. The quite limited knowledge about the human brain at that time did not allow for any conclusions beyond the ordinary. Dr. Harvey never finished the expected report.

The controversy cost Harvey his job. In August, 1978, New Jersey Monthly reporter Steven Levy published an article: I Found Einstein's Brain based on his interview with Dr. Harvey when he was living in Wichita, Kansas. In 1988, Dr. Harvey retired and moved to Lawrence, Kansas. In 1996, Harvey moved from Weston, Missouri to Titusville, New Jersey. In 1998, Harvey delivered the remaining uncut portion of Einstein's brain to Dr. Elliot Krauss, a pathologist at Princeton University. Certain parts of Einstein's brain was found to have a higher proportion of glial cells than the average male brain.

In 2005, on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of Einstein's death, the 93-year-old Harvey was able to give interviews regarding the remarkable history of the brain from his home in New Jersey. He died at the University Medical Center at Princeton on April 5, 2007.

Literature

• Michael Paterniti, Driving Mr. Albert: A Trip Across America With Einstein's Brain (G K Hall & Co, December, 2000) (ISBN 0-7838-9298-5)
• Carolyn Abraham, Possessing Genius: The Bizarre Odyssey of Einstein's Brain (St Martins Press, March, 2002) (ISBN 0-312-28117-X)

References

• Doctor kept Einstein's brain in jar 43 years

External links

• Newspaper Obituary for Dr. Thomas Stoltz Harvey Died April 5, 2007
• Post-Gazette article
• The Whereabouts of Dr. Einstein's Brain
• Neuroscience for Kids - Einstein's Brain
• Einstein's Brain, Swedish Documentary
• NY Times