Stream now with KPBS Passport / Watch Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026 at 11p.m. on KPBS TV
In 1955, Dr. Thomas Stoltz Harvey was the chief pathologist of Princeton Hospital who stole Albert Einstein's brain while performing the autopsy on the world’s most famous scientist.
Harvey’s motive for taking Einstein’s brain was his belief that further research would solve the mystery of genius, making him a scientific star. But the decision would haunt him for the rest of his life.
While Einstein’s family initially demanded that the brain be returned, the ambitious Harvey struck a secret deal with the estate to safeguard it for science — but science was not yet up to the job and Harvey would never outrun Einstein’s enduring celebrity.
After dividing the brain into 240 pieces, he spent the next half century hiding it in basements, car trunks, and cardboard boxes, while his personal and professional life crumbled. Harvey lost his job, three marriages failed and by his 80s, he was working the night shift at a plastics factory to get by — with Einstein’s brain in the closet.
Quirky and poignant, this stranger-than-fiction portrait features a rich archive, interviews with those who knew Harvey best, and rare access to Harvey’s own recorded words.
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