When Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955, at Princeton Hospital in New Jersey, the world mourned the loss of one of history’s most influential physicists. What followed his death, however, became one of the most unusual and controversial episodes in medical and scientific history, involving the removal, preservation, and decades-long study of his brain.
Einstein had reportedly expressed wishes for a simple cremation and no physical memorials. Despite this, during the postmortem examination, his brain was removed by the attending pathologist, Dr. Thomas Stoltz Harvey, without advance permission from Einstein or his family. Harvey, who was then the chief pathologist at Princeton Hospital, believed that preserving the brain could offer future insights into the biological basis of extraordinary intelligence.
Only after the brain had already been removed was Einstein’s family informed of the decision. Historical accounts indicate that Harvey later sought approval from Einstein’s eldest son, Hans Albert Einstein, who agreed to allow the brain to be retained and studied for legitimate scientific research. This retrospective consent, however, has often been described as reluctant and conditional rather than full prior authorization. As a result, this situation remains a subject of debate regarding medical consent and research after death.
Dr. Harvey performed the autopsy shortly after Einstein’s death due to an abdominal aortic aneurysm. During the procedure, he removed the brain, weighing approximately 1,230 grams slightly below the average adult male brain weight. Harvey photographed the brain extensively from multiple angles. He then dissected it into approximately 240 tissue blocks, which were preserved in celloidin, a cellulose-based embedding medium commonly used at the time for histological studies. Portions of the tissue were later shared with other scientists for research.
The brain tissue was stored in glass jars filled with 10% formalin and, over the years, transported with Harvey as he moved across the United States. For decades, Einstein’s brain remained largely in personal custody of Harvey, rather than a medical research center. Portions of the brain were later distributed to selected neuroscientists for study.
Harvey eventually lost his position at Princeton Hospital, though the exact reasons remain debated. Nevertheless, he continued to oversee access to Einstein’s brain tissue for researchers who expressed interest in studying it.
Despite initial expectations, meaningful scientific studies of Einstein’s brain did not begin until decades later. The delay was partly due to the absence of standardized neuroanatomical techniques for correlating brain structure with intelligence at the time.
In the 1980s and 1990s, renewed interest emerged as advances in neuroscience allowed for more detailed microscopic and structural analysis. Tissue samples were shared with researchers in the United States and Canada, leading to several peer-reviewed publications.
One of the first and widely cited findings came from a 1985 study that reported a higher ratio of glial cells to neurons in certain regions of Einstein’s brain, particularly in pre-frontal cortex and parietal lobes, areas associated with mathematical reasoning and spatial cognition. Glial cells play a crucial role in supporting neurons, regulating neurotransmission, and maintaining metabolic balance. A higher glial-to-neuron ratio has been hypothesized to enhance neural efficiency, though this was not proven at the time due to the lack of a large sample for the study.
Another notable anatomical feature was the partial absence of the lateral sulcus, also known as the Sylvian fissure, in Einstein’s parietal lobes. This fissure typically separates the temporal lobe from the frontal and parietal lobes. Its reduced prominence may have allowed for greater connectivity between regions involved in visuospatial reasoning and mathematical thought.
Studies found that Einstein’s inferior parietal lobule was unusually shaped and lacked certain sulci commonly present in the general population. The parietal lobes are involved in spatial orientation, abstract reasoning, and numerical processing, cognitive domains strongly associated with Einstein’s scientific work.
Later imaging and re-analysis of preserved tissue suggested that Einstein’s corpus callosum, the bundle of nerve fibers connecting the two cerebral hemispheres, may have been thicker in certain regions compared to control brains. This could imply enhanced interhemispheric communication, potentially facilitating complex integrative thinking. However, researchers caution that such findings are correlational and not definitive proof of causation.
While these anatomical observations attracted widespread attention, scientists have repeatedly emphasized the limitations of drawing direct conclusions about intelligence from postmortem brain anatomy. Sample sizes were small, control comparisons varied, and Einstein’s lifelong intellectual engagement itself could have influenced neuroplastic changes in the brain.
Ethical concerns have also persisted, particularly regarding consent and the prolonged private custody of human tissue. Modern medical standards require explicit informed consent for postmortem research, a framework that was less clearly defined in the mid-20th century.
Today, remaining sections of Einstein’s brain are housed at medical institutions, including the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Maryland, the Mutter Museum in Philadelphia, and a few other research institutions in the United States. The case continues to be cited in discussions on neuroethics, scientific curiosity, and the challenges of linking brain structure to cognitive ability.
While no single anatomical feature can fully explain Einstein’s intellectual achievements, the studies of his brain have contributed to broader understanding of brain variability, neuroplasticity, and the complexity of human cognition.
References
Falk, Dean, Frederick E. Lepore, and Adrianne Noe. “New Information about the Brain of Albert Einstein.” Brain 137, no. 4 (2014): 1304–1311. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3959548/.
Falk, Dean, Frederick E. Lepore, and Adrianne Noe. New Information about Albert Einstein’s Brain. ResearchGate. Accessed [date]. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/26666195_New_Information_about_Albert_Einstein's_Brain.
Witelson, Sandra F., et al. “The Exceptional Brain of Albert Einstein.” The Lancet 353, no. 9170 (1999). https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(98)10327-6/abstract.