The brain of Albert Einstein, widely regarded as the father of modern physics, is currently featured in an exhibit at the Mütter Museum at the College of Physicians of Philadelphia.

Einstein and his brain have been the subjects of several books and scientific studies since he died on April 18, 1955 at age 76. However, his brain alone has taken a strange and controversial journey all by itself.

A few hours after Einstein died from an abdominal aneurism, his brain was illegally taken during a routine autopsy conducted at Princeton Hospital.

Despite not being given any permission by Einstein's family, Thomas Stoltz Harvey (the pathologist who conducted the autopsy) removed Einstein's brain and had it sectioned into over two hundred blocks. Some specimens were kept by Harvey while the rest were distributed to a few pathologists he had chosen.

Harvey, who refused to give up the brain and eyes of Einstein which he stole, was fired by Princeton Hospital months later.

Eventually, Einstein's family gave permission for the specimens to be used. However, they stipulated that it could only be for scientific research.

At first glance, Einstein's brain which weighed 1,230 grams, was considered normal due to its size.

A few studies conducted decades later would provide information that proved otherwise.

In a 1985 study entitled "On the Brain of a Scientist: Albert Einstein", Professor Marian C. Diamond found that his brain had a much higher number of glial cells compared with an average male. These glial cells are mainly responsible for protecting neurons, forming myelin and maintaining homeostasis in the brain.

Later on, a 1999 study called "The Exceptional Brain of Albert Einstein" led by Professor Sandra Witelson (based on Harvey's photographs of Einstein's brain in 1955) discovered that his brain was missing the parietal operculum, which contains the secondary somatosensory cortex, and the lateral or Sylvian fissure, which divides the frontal and parietal lobe from the temporal lobe.

It seems that due to the missing parietal operculum, the inferior parietal lobe became wider than usual. The inferior parietal lobe is responsible for numerical and visuo-spatial processing as well as integration of information derived from all senses of the body.

However, these findings are inconclusive. Scientists are still exploring the possibility that these physical differences in Einstein's brain played a crucial role in how he became a genius.

Lucy Rorke-Adams, who received the 46 specimens of Einstein's brain as a gift, donated them to the museum so they could be shared with the world.

"The blood vessels are beautiful, the neurons are beautiful, the integrity of the neurons is simply remarkable. It really looks like the brain of a young person," said Rorke-Adams, as quoted by NewsWorks.