Inventor of Plastination Gunther von Hagens has died at the age of 81

The Invention of Plastination

After his move to the West, he continued his studies in Heidelberg. In the 1970s, he devoted himself there to developing a novel preservation technique, which was first presented to the public in 1977 at the University of Heidelberg: plastination. In the process, the tissue of corpses is first dehydrated and then impregnated with plastic, so that permanent anatomical specimens are created. With this technique, von Hagens revolutionized anatomical teaching according to his own account.

In 1993, von Hagens founded the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg, a private company that has since organized the dissemination of the plastinates. In 2006, the founding of Gubener Plastinate GmbH followed in Brandenburg's Guben, whose managing director is his son Rurik von Hagens. In Guben, he opened the so-called Plastinarium in the same year, where the elaborate production of the specimens can be viewed.

Worldwide «Body Worlds» Exhibitions

Von Hagens achieved his breakthrough with the public through his «Body Worlds» exhibitions, which were first shown in the 1990s. In the 1990s alone, the shows reached around 780,000 visitors according to the company. According to later figures from the Institute for Plastination, the exhibitions have so far been visited by more than 58 million people. The shows toured numerous countries and made the inside of the human body visible to a mass audience.

In 2015, a dedicated museum with plastinates opened at Berlin's Alexanderplatz. In the exhibitions, von Hagens also presented specimens of people who had donated their bodies to the Institute for Plastination after death. According to the company, around 16,680 people were registered in the body donor program in 2017. The number continued to rise in subsequent years; the Institute most recently spoke of more than 16,000 body donors.

Body Donor Program and Ethical Debate

The shows were controversial from the beginning. Critics accused the physician of violating human dignity by displaying corpses. Von Hagens always countered that only bodies of people who had expressly decided during their lifetime to donate their bodies were shown. The debate accompanied «Body Worlds» for decades and repeatedly led to discussions about the handling of the dead body.

In recent years, von Hagens suffered from an illness according to those around him. No precise details about the nature of the illness were provided in the available reports. During this time, his wife continued to run the «Body Worlds» exhibitions, as reported from the family circle.

The Wish to Be Plastinated Himself

The family announced that they would fulfill the deceased's wish to have his body plastinated as well. «Seine Angehörigen werden diesen Wunsch respektieren und ausführen», the announcement stated. The question of whether and where the plastinated body might later be publicly displayed also remained initially open. The Plastinarium in Brandenburg's Guben, which von Hagens himself had opened in 2006, was named as a possible location.

With the death of Gunther von Hagens, one of the most extraordinary careers in modern medical history comes to an end. A physician who was imprisoned in the GDR, started anew in the Federal Republic, and created a worldwide exhibition phenomenon with a self-developed technique, has permanently changed the public perception of the human body.

His death was picked up internationally in media that paid tribute to the plastination inventor's life's work, but also recalled the criticism of his methods. On social media and on news portals, companions, anatomists, and exhibition visitors shared their thoughts.

The physician's legacy includes the Institute for Plastination based in Heidelberg, Gubener Plastinate GmbH, the Plastinarium in Guben, the museum at Berlin's Alexanderplatz, as well as the ongoing body donor program. According to the family circle, the future of the exhibitions will be continued by his wife.

With his death, anatomy loses a pioneer whose technique is now used worldwide in universities and museums. At the same time, the ethical debate surrounding the staging of dead bodies remains a part of his legacy.

Funeral ceremonies and a possible public memorial event had not yet been announced at the time of reporting.