Gunther von Hagens, creator of Body Worlds and plastination, dies aged 81

Gunther von Hagens, the creator of Body Worlds and plastination, passed away at the age of 81. The German anatomist was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease in 2008 and died in a hospital in Heidelberg on July 24, after suffering a cerebral haemorrhage the previous day. Von Hagens frequently expressed a desire for his body to be plastinated after his death, though he was uncertain about his preferred presentation method.

Upon his death, the Plastinarium, a museum founded by von Hagens in Guben, Germany in 2006, announced that his body would indeed be plastinated, as this was his long-held wish. It remains unclear where the plastinated body would be displayed. Born Gunther Gerhard Liebchen in Poland in 1945, von Hagens grew up in socialist East Germany and was imprisoned for attempting to flee to the West.

He later met and married his first wife, adopted her surname, and moved to West Germany in 1970. It was there that he developed his plastination technique for preserving human bodies in rigid states. His plastination method involves extracting bodily fluids and soluble fat from a dead body and replacing them with resins, silicon rubbers, and epoxies.

This process imbues the tissue with high levels of rigidity, enabling bodies to be displayed in upright, lifelike poses. Von Hagens curate the Body Worlds exhibitions, which became a global phenomenon, attracting over 50 million visitors worldwide. However, the displays were met with controversy for their titillating nature, with critics arguing that they deliberately sought to shock audiences.

Von Hagens insisted that the bodies on display belonged to individuals who had authorized the use of their bodies after death for educational purposes.