In the long run, we're all internet slideshows
LIFE magazine has unearthed some 'previously unseen' (by THE INTERNET) photos of the hours immediately following Einstein's death. Here's his desk, as he left it:
Photographed by the now 92-year-old Ralph Morse, who worked for the magazine for decades, the photographs are interesting as an early ancestor of the graveyard paparazzi beat so familiar to TMZ readers these days. Morse followed the family all around Princeton, documenting the mechanics of his burial, snapping the coffin, the family arriving at the crematorium and returning to the family home.
The reason the photos haven't been seen until now is interesting. Einstein's son asked Morse's editor not to publish them and he didn't, which goes to show (a) how what is considered newsworthy has changed in 65 years and (b) the autonomy today's editors have long since lost.
One other thing that perhaps highlights a certain ethical grey area is slide 10, in which we see Dr. Thomas Harvey, who performed Einstein's autopsy, posing with partially carved brain tissue. Is it the great physicist's cranial matter? Who can say? Well, says Morse, it's impossible to be certain, but maybe, wink-wink, nudge-nudge, say-no-more:
"You know, it was fifty-five years ago. Honestly, I don't remember every single detail of the day. So whatever he's cutting there ..." Morse's words hang in the air. Then, mischievously, he laughs.
Sigh.
The road from The Atlantic to The Smoking Gun is shorter than you think.
