Possible adverse effects of electromagnetic fields on the human body and especially on the nervous system and the brain are of increasing concern, particularly with reference to cellular telephone transceivers held close to the head. An essential step in the study of this problem is the accurate determination of the complete electromagnetic field penetrating through the skull into the brain. Simple analytical formulas are derived from the theory of the horizontal electric dipole over a layered region. These give the components of the electric and magnetic fields on the air-head surface, in the skin-skull layer, and throughout the brain in terms of a planar model with the dimensions and average electrical properties of the human head. The specific absorption rate (SAR) is also determined. ¿ American Geophysical Union 1995