Unfinished Business: Albert Einstein's Office The Day He Died

Via: LIFE

April 18, 1955

Famed German theoretical physicist Albert Einstein dies early in the morning at Princeton Hospital, New Jersey. The great scientist is known the world over for his theory of relativity, but Einstein's family wishes the cremation and funeral to be private affairs.

Ralph Morse, a photographer for LIFE magazine, gets exclusive images of the unfolding events, due primarily to his tenacity and strategic sharing of a case of scotch. Though the many frames captured by Morse give LIFE the scoop on the iconic physicist's death, the editors choose not to run the full story out of respect for family privacy requested by Einstein's son Hans. Of all the photos taken that day, only the above would be published for the story.