{"id":22824,"date":"2026-07-28T10:21:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T06:21:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/?p=22824"},"modified":"2026-07-28T10:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T06:39:20","slug":"gunther-von-hagens-anatomist-and-inventor-of-plastination-has-died","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/gunther-von-hagens-anatomist-and-inventor-of-plastination-has-died\/","title":{"rendered":"Gunther von Hagens, anatomist and inventor of plastination, has died."},"content":{"rendered":"<p data-path-to-node=\"1\"><span class=\"\">At the age of 81,<\/span><span class=\"\"> German anatomist and scientist Gunther von Hagens has passed away.<\/span><span class=\"\"> He became widely known to the public for developing the innovative method of body plastination and for his controversial traveling exhibition,<\/span><span class=\"\"> Body Worlds.<\/span><span class=\"\"> According to the Institute for Plastination,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the cause of death was a brain hemorrhage.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"2\"><span class=\"\">Von Hagens invented the unique technology for preserving body tissues in 1977 while working at Heidelberg University.<\/span><span class=\"\"> The process involves removing fluid and fat from a deceased body and replacing them with special resins,<\/span><span class=\"\"> silicone,<\/span><span class=\"\"> and epoxy.<\/span><span class=\"\"> This method lends durability to tissues and allows bodies to be presented in realistic,<\/span><span class=\"\"> dynamic poses.<\/span><span class=\"\"> Since 1995,<\/span><span class=\"\"> his exhibition Body Worlds\u2014featuring plastinated corpses engaged in playing chess,<\/span><span class=\"\"> athletic activities,<\/span><span class=\"\"> and other daily postures\u2014achieved global acclaim and attracted over 50 million visitors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"3\"><span class=\"\">According to the author,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the project aimed to &#8220;democratize anatomy&#8221; and break taboos surrounding death.<\/span><span class=\"\"> However,<\/span><span class=\"\"> the use of embryos and animals among the exhibits,<\/span><span class=\"\"> alongside concerns regarding the provenance of the corpses,<\/span><span class=\"\"> made the exhibition a subject of intense ethical debate and criticism.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><span class=\"\">In accordance with the scientist&#8217;s wishes,<\/span><span class=\"\"> his own body will also undergo the plastination process.<\/span><span class=\"\"> During his lifetime,<\/span><span class=\"\"> von Hagens stated that he wanted his body to be displayed in a museum or at the entrance of the exhibition after his death; however,<\/span><span class=\"\"> it remains unknown precisely where the anatomist&#8217;s plastinated remains will be exhibited.<\/span><\/p>\n<p data-path-to-node=\"4\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/world\/2026\/jul\/27\/gunther-von-hagens-creator-of-body-worlds-and-plastination-dies-aged-81\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Guardian<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>At the age of 81, German anatomist and scientist Gunther von Hagens has passed away. He became widely known to the public for developing the innovative method of body plastination and for his controversial traveling exhibition, Body Worlds. According to the Institute for Plastination, the cause of death was a brain hemorrhage. Von Hagens invented [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22823,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1594],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22824","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22824"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22824\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22827,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22824\/revisions\/22827"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22824"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22824"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/medscriptum.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22824"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}