Gunther von Hagens, the German anatomist who transformed public engagement with the human body through his controversial Body Worlds exhibitions and the plastination technique he invented, has died at the age of 81. His family announced that he passed away after being admitted to a clinic in Heidelberg, Germany, following a brain haemorrhage. He had lived with Parkinson's disease for nearly two decades.
Von Hagens developed plastination in 1977 while working in Heidelberg. The process involves removing water and fat from biological tissue and replacing them with silicone, rubber, and other polymers, permanently halting decomposition and allowing bodies to be preserved, handled, and displayed at room temperature without refrigeration. The technique was initially adopted by universities and research institutes as a teaching aid, but it was the launch of the first Body Worlds exhibition in Japan in 1995 that brought von Hagens global recognition — and global controversy. Since then, the exhibitions have visited more than 170 cities across 42 countries, drawing over 58 million visitors worldwide. A permanent Body Worlds location operates in Amsterdam.
Born in Nazi-occupied Poland in the final months of World War Two, von Hagens grew up in communist East Germany before fleeing to the West in 1970. His work attracted both admiration and fierce criticism throughout his career. Colleagues remembered him as a "pioneer, a researcher, an inventor" who made anatomy accessible to ordinary people, while critics accused him of voyeurism and exploiting death for commercial gain. In 2002, he performed the first public autopsy in London in 170 years, broadcast on television — an event authorities warned could be illegal, though no charges were brought. In 2004, he returned seven plastinated bodies to China after acknowledging he could not rule out that they had come from executed prisoners; bullet holes were reportedly found in two of the skulls.
His wife, Angelina Whalley, maintained that von Hagens was not motivated by sensationalism, but by a conviction that knowledge of the human body could encourage "a more conscious, healthier and more responsible life." More than 21,000 people have registered to donate their bodies to the Body Worlds programme since it was founded in 1982, though the organisation says it is no longer accepting new donors due to capacity limits.
In keeping with a wish he had expressed publicly, von Hagens' family confirmed they will have his own body plastinated after his death. German media have suggested the Plastinarium in Guben — a workshop and exhibition space opened in 2006 where visitors can observe the plastination process — as a possible home for the display. "It is a way to continue my convictions and my life's work after my death," von Hagens said last year.