The Day Einstein Died

For 55 years, many of these Ralph Morse pictures never made it into print at the request of Albert Einstein's son. Only now is Life Magazine printing out the pictures of Einstein's office other related scenes. All of them were taken on the day that Einstein died. A bottle of scotch got him access to Einstein's office.

"I grabbed my cameras and drove the ninety miles to Princeton," Morse recalls. "Einstein died at the Princeton Hospital, so I headed there first. But it was chaos -- so many journalists, photographers, onlookers milling around outside what, back then, was a really small hospital. 'Forget this,' I said, and headed over to the building where Einstein's office was. On the way there, I stopped and bought a case of scotch. I knew people might be reluctant to talk to me, and I knew that most people were happy to accept a bottle of scotch instead of money if you offered it in exchange for their help. So, I get to the building and nobody's there. I find the superintendent, give him a fifth of scotch, and he opens up Einstein's office so I can take some photos."

Zz.