On the road with Einstein's brain

Paterniti caught up with Harvey 40 years later, when the writer became intrigued by the story of Einstein’s brain. Over the phone, the men hatched a plan to return the brain to Einstein’s granddaughter Evelyn, who was living in Berkeley, Calif.

By that time Harvey was in his 80s and living alone just a few miles from Princeton.

Paterniti drove down from his home in Maine in a rented Buick Skylark. When he arrived, Harvey was ready to go.

“He brought out his bags,” Paterniti says, “and in one bag he had a Tupperware container in which he had stashed the brain.”