The corresponding study was published in the Oxford University journal Brain.

In fact, Einstein did not want his “old relics,” as he put it, to be studied after his death, and insisted that he be cremated. He died of a ruptured abdominal aorta at Princeton City Hospital at a quarter past two on the night of April 18, 1955. During the autopsy, pathologist Thomas Harvey removed the brain of a genius from the skull.

It is alleged that this was done with the consent of Einstein's closest relative, his son Hans Albert, however, according to some sources, this consent was given after the fact.

At the same time, Einstein's ophthalmologist Henry Abrams (with the permission of the hospital director only) removed the eyes of the deceased. This operation required him 20 minutes, scissors and forceps. This became known only in 1993. All this time, the ophthalmologist kept Einstein's eyes in a special solution in a bank safe; their further fate is unknown. One way or another, both “removals”, strongly reminiscent of desecration of the remains, were made, allegedly, out of deepest reverence and admiration for the most intelligent person in the entire history of mankind.

This is what happened to the brain.

First, Harvey took many photographs from various angles, then cut it into 240 blocks and placed it in formaldehyde.

From each block, he separated thin sections and placed them on glass slides, which he subsequently began to send out from time to time to the best neurologists in the world.

Einstein's brain and photographs are said to have disappeared for more than half a century, only to resurface in 2010 after Harvey's heirs donated them to the National Museum of Health and Medicine in Silver Springs. However, this is not entirely true: Harvey always kept them at home in two glass flasks, in a cider box, and never hid their existence.

He did not agree to sell them on even the most flattering terms, but distributed sections to researchers upon their first request.

The result of all these mailings was two scientific articles: one was published in 1985, the other a decade later. From them the world learned that Einstein's brain was unique. Scientists, in particular, were able to find out that it contains much more so-called glial cells, which supply neurons with energy. It also became known that his brain was devoid of signs of aging characteristic of the brain of a 76-year-old person.

The photographs themselves, taken by Thomas Harvey, have never been seriously examined.

Dean Faulk, a professor of anthropology at Florida State University, and her colleagues obtained fourteen images of Einstein's brain from the National Museum of Health and Medicine and compared them with photographs of the brains of 85 other people. Quite a lot of differences were found, but what struck scientists the most was the prefrontal part of the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for abstract thinking.

The relief of the convolutions was very complex, and there were four convolutions themselves, and not three, like in ordinary people.

The same complex relief of folds was found in the parietal lobes and visual cortex. In other words, Einstein's cerebral cortex was much larger than usual - perhaps that's why he could think like no one else.

The right so-called somatosensory area of the cortex also turned out to be unusual - it processes sensory information coming from the body. The area corresponding to the sensations of the left hand was greatly enlarged. This circumstance had nothing to do with Einstein’s genius, but it explained his other talent - the talent of a violinist.

For the first time since Albert Einstein's death, photographs of his brain have been analyzed.