ALBERT EINSTEIN’S BRAIN
Last Saturday BM&L’s
Members discussed the role of glia in brain processing, starting from an
introductory speech about Einstein’s brain anatomy, held by James R. Fulton.
Our knowledge of the
genius’ encephalon began as the first observation was conducted by Thomas
Harvey, the pathologist who removed Einstein’s brain during the autopsy.
Harvey weighed, measured,
photographed an then dissected Einstein’s brain in a total of about two hundred
and forty pieces, some of which were sealed in paraffin, while others were left
to float raw in formaldehyde. In cooperation with Marta Keller, a highly
competent university lab technician now ninety-seven, Harvey provided a number
of high quality slides from the most famous brain tissue of the century. For a
better work he also consulted with various researchers of the Wistar Institute,
a University of Pennsylvania facility famous for its collection of brains. Yet,
what they learned about Einstein’s brain, was considered nothing more than an
anatomical curiosity.
In the light of today’s
neurobiological acquisitions, Harvey’s work -as well as the job of other scientists
on specimens from the encephalon of Albert Einstein- acquires new relevance and,
with the support of new methods and technologies, can give us new insights.