The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain – Hot Docs 2023

April 27 to May 7, 2023

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A pathologist spends decades with Albert Einstein’s brain in his possession in The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain. Dr. Thomas Stoltz Harvey was the chief pathologist of Princeton Hospital, who performed the autopsy on Albert Einstein following the scientist’s death in April 1955. During the autopsy, Harvey decides to take Einstein’s brain from the corpses, making a deal with the scientist’s estate that the brain would only be used for scientific worship. However, Harvey cannot find scientists willing or able to study the brain and the organ remains directed in a jar for decades.

The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain Synopsis

The Man, Whole Stole Einstein’s Brain, is a stranger-than-true documentary directed by Michelle Shephard. The film’s story is based on an interview conducted by journalist Carolyn Abraham with Dr. Thomas Harvey near the end of his life in the late-1990s, which was the basis for Abraham’s 2001 book Possessing Genius. Thomas Harvey has hoped to achieve fame and renown as the man who helped study a certified genius’s brain. However, Harvey instead became a man of infamy and urban legend, who would be the brain in a jar in his basement, as he would move on later in life to work a menial job in a plastics factory.

My Thoughts on The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain

A certain irony comes from the very bizarre story of The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain. While Thomas Harvey kept Albert Einstein’s brain for science, it evolved into being somewhat of a freak show, to the point where The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain features a clip from a Japanese documentary of an elder Thomas Harvey cutting a piece of the brain for an eager Einstein fan. While Harvey relinquished control of the brain to an anonymous doctor towards the end of his life, he will forever live on in infamy as The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain.

Trailer for The Man Who Stole Einstein’s Brain – Hot Docs 2023