Meet the man responsible for Einstein’s brain and other amazing artifacts at the Mütter Museum of medical history

“It’s a disturbingly informative place where you can look inside your body”

Robert D. Hicks, PhD (@MutterMuseum) is the director of the Mütter Museum and Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, where he holds the William Maul Measey Chair for the History of Medicine. He has worked with museum-based education and exhibits for over three decades, primarily as a consultant to historic sites and museums. And he has a pet leech named Horatio.

On July 7, Dr. Hicks answered questions from our community of over a million healthcare professionals. You can read the entire Q&A on Figure 1.

Notable Museum Pieces, the “Friends and Family Plan,” and Trends in Medical History

When one healthcare professional asked Dr. Hicks what his favorite specimen is, he answers that it’s actually a tool: a piezo-electric generator made by Pierre Curie and given to the museum by Marie Curie. “We have the oldest extant tool in the world for measuring radioactivity and hardly anyone knows it’s here,” writes Dr. Hicks. In the 1980s, it had to be briefly removed from the museum and decontaminated when it was discovered to be radioactive itself. The piezo-electric generator and other historical pieces can be viewed online at Memento Mütter, the museum’s digital exhibit.

“While the oldest IUD in our collection is not nearly as old as the kind described by Dr. Richter in 1909, nor made of silkworm gut, it is still an important part of IUD history. It was also probably used, as the cap is missing and there are calcium deposits present. The second oldest is made of 14-kt gold, which was not uncommon for that style. The third we show here is the infamous Dalkon shield. This IUD was the subject of many lawsuits due to injuries and deaths sustained by the women who used it. The issue was in the tail which acted as a wick for bacteria that caused infections.” Click the image to see the full case by @MutterMuseum on Figure 1.

Regarding how museum items are procured, Dr. Hicks writes that although the Mütter Museum has no acquisitions budget and relies completely on donations, it is still very selective: “For example, our curator has been collecting specimens that relate to maladies common to 21st-century Americans, such as a 500-gram enlarged prostate, and a placenta from an 11-lb, 2-oz vaginal delivery, the largest one from that particular hospital!”

Dr. Hicks also explains the museum’s ‘friends and family plan’: “all staff and family must donate all bits and bobs that naturally or accidentally depart from their bodies. For example the curator’s husband’s gallbladder, my skin cancer slides, and the curator’s kidney stone.”

When asked whether he believes there is room to reconcile both traditional and modern medicine, Dr. Hicks responds:

“If there’s one thing medical history teaches us, it’s that there’s no linear progression from ‘primitive medical practice’ to today’s high-tech world. Some therapies that were once regarded as obsolete and not scientifically valid have come back into use. My favorite personal example relates to my office pet Horatio. Horatio is a medicinal leech. Leeches were common medical tools for 2000 years.”

Join Figure 1 to read the full Q&A with Dr. Hicks, participate in more live chats with healthcare leaders, and see cases from around the world.