Gunther von Hagens, 'Body Worlds' Creator and Inventor of Plastination, Dies at Age 81 Amid Controversy

Gunther von Hagens, the German anatomist who invented the body-preservation technique known as plastination and turned it into the globally touring "Body Worlds" exhibitions, has died at the age of 81, his family and the Institute for Plastination announced.

A death after a long illness

Von Hagens died July 24, according to a statement from his family and the institute he founded. German media reported that he had long suffered from Parkinson's disease. His wife and longtime creative collaborator, Angelina Whalley, described his motivations in a statement following his death, saying, "Gunther wanted to give people a look beneath the skin — not out of a desire for sensationalism, but out of the deep conviction that knowledge of one's own body can contribute to a more conscious, healthy and responsible life."

His son, Rurik von Hagens, also paid tribute to his father's legacy, crediting him with fundamentally reshaping how the public engaged with the study of the human body. "My father never accepted that boundaries were fixed. He brought anatomy out of the closed world of specialists and into society," Rurik said.

A career built on a groundbreaking technique

Born in 1945 in what was then German-controlled Poland, von Hagens studied medicine at the University of Jena in East Germany before defecting to West Germany in 1970. He went on to earn his medical doctorate from the universities of Lübeck and Heidelberg in 1975 and taught anatomy and physiology until 2004.

It was in the 1970s that von Hagens developed plastination, a technique designed initially to aid anatomy instruction. The process involves fixing bodily tissue in a preservative solution before replacing its water and fat content with reactive plastics such as silicone or epoxy resin, allowing specimens to be preserved in a stable, largely permanent state without decay.

From medical tool to global exhibition

Von Hagens founded the Institute for Plastination in Heidelberg in 1993 and, two years later, staged the first "Body Worlds" exhibition in Tokyo, launching what would become a decades-long, continent-spanning tour. The exhibition made its way to South Korea in 2002, opening at what was then Seoul's National Science Museum, where it drew roughly 1.7 million visitors nationwide. In total, more than 58 million people across more than 500 cities worldwide have viewed the exhibition since its debut, according to figures from the Institute for Plastination.

Praise for making anatomy accessible

Supporters and colleagues have credited von Hagens with democratizing knowledge of human anatomy that had previously been largely confined to medical schools and dissection rooms. His team described him following his death as "a pioneer, a researcher, an inventor" and an "iconoclastic and sometimes controversial thinker" whose work made anatomy accessible to the general public. Whalley emphasized the educational intent behind his work, saying his approach was "scientific, educational and deeply humanistic," and that he "led millions of people to see their own bodies in a new light."

A career shadowed by persistent controversy

Despite his scientific contributions, von Hagens spent much of his career facing criticism, and was sometimes referred to by the nickname "Dr. Death." Although he maintained that all bodies used in his exhibitions were voluntarily donated, he faced persistent allegations that some specimens had been obtained through illicit channels involving the bodies of executed prisoners in China, where he also operated a body-processing facility, a claim that fueled repeated accusations of unethical conduct. Several European countries, including France, saw exhibitions canceled amid the ongoing controversy, and von Hagens faced legal accusations of voyeurism and improperly profiting from death over the course of his career.

Certain exhibits drew particularly sharp condemnation for what critics viewed as a failure to preserve basic dignity for the deceased, including specimens depicting couples engaged in sexual intercourse and a pregnant woman posed opening her own abdomen to reveal a fetus. Activist Aaron Ginsberg, who campaigned against the exhibitions, argued that the display of human remains in this manner ignored the humanity of the people involved, saying the specimens too "feel love and pain, and are people with souls, memories, and names," rather than serving merely as instructional tools.

A final wish to become part of his own work

Von Hagens had long stated his intention to have his own body plastinated after death, a wish his family has said it will honor. "It was Gunther von Hagens' own wish that his body, too, be made available for plastination after his death," his family said in their statement, adding that they will respect and carry out that request. Local media reported that it remains unclear whether his plastinated remains will ultimately be displayed as part of the "Body Worlds" exhibition itself.

A legacy that extends beyond exhibitions

Beyond the traveling shows, von Hagens' plastination technique has had lasting influence within medical education. The Plastinarium, a production and educational facility he established in Guben, Germany, continues to create anatomical specimens used in training physicians and other healthcare professionals at universities and medical schools. His institute said his scientific and craftsmanship-based legacy would continue through the Plastinarium, the Institute for Plastination and the ongoing "Body Worlds" exhibitions, which have continued touring internationally even as von Hagens' own health declined in recent years.

With von Hagens' death, the Institute for Plastination and his family have indicated the exhibitions and educational work he built will continue under the direction of his existing team and collaborators, including Whalley, who has long served as the exhibition's curator. Questions remain about how his own body will ultimately be incorporated into his life's work, with local outlets reporting that a final decision on that matter has yet to be made public. For now, tributes continue to arrive from admirers who credit von Hagens with transforming public understanding of human anatomy, alongside renewed scrutiny from longtime critics who maintain that his exhibitions never fully resolved the ethical questions that followed him throughout his career.