Albert Einstein, whose theories exploded and had reformed our ideas of how the universe functions, died of heart failure on April 18, 1955,. He was 76. His funeral and cremation were intensely private matters, and only a photographer managed to capture the events of that extraordinary day: LIFE magazine of Ralph Morse.
Armed with his camera and a case of whiskey - for opening doors and loosen tongues - Morse compiled a record of intense silence of passing of an icon of the 20th century. But apart from a now-famous - office of Einstein image, exactly as you left it, taken hours after his death - never published photos Morse took that day. At the request of the son of Einstein, who asked to respect the privacy of the family as they mourned, editors of life chose not to run the full story and for more than five decades Morse photographs lay in the magazine files, forgotten.
The story of how Morse got the photos, meanwhile, provides a lesson in tenacity and thinking on your feet.
After receiving a call tomorrow a life editor April saying that Einstein had died, Morse seized their cameras and drove the 90 miles from his home in Northern New Jersey to Princeton.
"Einstein died in Princeton Hospital," Morse, now 96 and living in Florida, said LIFE.com, "so I went there first. But it was a chaos, journalists, photographers and onlookers. So I went to the office of Einstein at the Institute for advanced studies. Along the way, I stopped and bought a case of whisky. I knew that people may be reluctant to talk, but most are happy to accept a bottle of liquor, rather than money, in Exchange for his help. So I arrive at the building, find the Superintendent, give a fifth of whiskey and as well, the office will open.
Early in the afternoon, body of Einstein was transferred for a short time in the hospital to a funeral home in Princeton. The simple coffin which contained the corpse, later autopsy, only remained at the funeral home during one hour or less. Morse made his way there and soon saw two men carrying a coffin in a hearse. All Morse knew, burial of Einstein was imminent. The hope that reached a spot near the Tomb, quickly led to the Princeton cemetery.
"I drive out to the cemetery to find where Einstein will be buried," recalls Morse. "But there must be two dozen tombs are dug that day!" See a group of men digging a grave, offer them a bottle ask them if they know anything. One of them said: ' he is to be cremated in about twenty minutes. Trenton!' "So I give them the rest of the Scots, jump in my car and Trenton and the crematorium just before that Einstein friends and relatives."
"Didn't have to tell anyone where he was," Morse says of his time photographing the events of the day. "I was the only photographer there, and it was a kind of a given that if there was a photographer at the scene, the chances were good life era."
At one point earlier in the day, son of Hans Einstein asked Morse for his name - a seemingly insignificant and friendly research that would prove, within hours, to have a significant impact.
"While is it winding down the day, I was very excited," recalls Morse, "because I knew that I was the only man with these photos. This was great news! Einstein was a huge, world famous public figure, and we had this story cold." He moved to Manhattan and the offices of life, insurance you could be honored by their colossal scoop.
"I came to New York with the film, and there are signs everywhere in the office: ' Ralph, see Ed!'" Ed Thompson was editor in Chief of life. A great journalist. Ed says: "Ralph, I've heard that you have a hell of an exclusive." I said, ' Yes, I believe to do '. And he says, 'well, we won't run." I was stunned. It turns out the son of Einstein, Hans, called while I was on the way to New York and asked that we not run the story, that we respect the privacy of the family. So Ed decided to kill the story. You can not run a magazine without an editor to make those decisions, and Ed had made theirs. So I thought, 'Well, that 's', and went on to my next mission. I thought that the daylight would never see the photos and they forgot them."
Here, 60 years later, life presents a selection of photographs from that day - photographs that capture the scene on a morning of spring in New Jersey, when Ralph Morse found racing around a city Ivy League trying to find out what happened to the great Albert Einstein...
Finally: The tale of stranger than fiction in the brain of Einstein - Dr. Thomas Harvey controversially removed during autopsy, carefully cut into sections and then kept for years for research purposes - and intrigue long associated with the famous organ are too complicated to enter here. However, the day Einstein, died Ralph Morse was able to take some quick photos of Dr. Harvey at the hospital. Morse said he is sure that it is not the brain of Einstein under the knife of Dr. Harvey in the box which ends the previous Gallery,
Then, after a pause, Morse says: "you know, was long, long ago. I don't remember all the details. Then, what being cut there... "His words hang in the air.
Then, maliciously, Morse laughs.
-Ben Cosgrove is the Editor of LIFE.com
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