A Life in Science Dr. Gunther Von Hagens

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Dr. Gunther von Hagens A Life in Science Dr. Gunther von Hagens’ life reads like He also showed an interest in science an archetypal scientist’s resume— dis- from an early age. tinguished by early precocity, scholar- ship, discovery, experimentation and He entered medical school at the Uni- invention. It is also the profi le of a man versity of Jena. While there, he began shaped by extraordinary events and to question communism and socialism marked by defi ance and daring. and widened his knowledge of politics by gathering information from Western Anatomist, inventor of Plastination, news sources. He later participated in and creator of BODY WORLDS, Dr. student protests against the invasion of von Hagens (christened Gunther Ger- Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops. hard Liebchen) was born in 1945 in Alt- Skalden, Posen, Poland—then part of A failed attempt to cross the Czechoslo- Germany. To escape the imminent and vakian border into Austria and freedom eventual Russian occupation of their in January of 1969 caused 23-year-old homeland, his parents placed the 5-day- von Hagens to be arrested, extradited to old infant in a laundry basket and began East Germany and imprisoned for two a six-month trek west by horse wagon. years. Th e family lived brieﬂ y in Berlin, before fi nally settling in Greiz, where von Ha- In 1970, after West Germany’s purchase gens remained until he was 19. of his freedom, von Hagens enrolled at the University of Lubeck, where he As a child, he was diagnosed with a rare completed his medical studies in 1973. bleeding disorder that restricted his ac- A year later, after obtaining his medical tivities and required long bouts of hospi- degree, he joined the Department of An- talization. At age six, von Hagens nearly esthesiology and Emergency Medicine died and was in intensive care for many at Heidelberg University. In June 1975, months. His daily encounters there with he married Dr. Cornelia von Hagens, a doctors and nurses left an indelible im- former classmate, and adopted her last pression on him and ignited his desire to name. Th e couple had three children, become a physician. Rurik, Bera and Tona. < The Rearing HOrse With Rider, 2000 Dr. Gunther von Hagens works on positioning the mega plasti- nate. Compared to the horse, human musculature is rather puny, but the larger human brain permits signiﬁ cantly higher intelligence. 10 | B O D Y W O R L D S 3 | June 5, 2007 | Portland Tribune and Community Newspapers.

Copy Link

Recommended publications

View/Open: ETD Quigley.Pdf
TÇtàÉÅ|vtÄ \wxÇà|àç _xäxÄá Éy \wxÇà|àç Tààtv{xw àÉ cÜxáxÜäxw [âÅtÇ exÅt|Çá A Thesis submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Communication, Culture & Technology by Christine Quigley, B.A., B.F.A. Washington, D.C. April 20, 2007 © 2007 by Christine Quigley ii TuáàÜtvà Head slice on table. Max Aguilera-Hellweg (1994). Sagittsl section, part of a series demonstrating the anatomy of the head, prepared for the Mutter Muaeum by Dr. Joseph P. Tunis (1866-1936), 1910 (www.blastbooks.com). When a human body part is removed and preserved after death, what kinds of identity remain attached to it? There are the extremes of complete anonymity and the named remains of a famous or infamous person, but there are many shades of gray in between. Is the specimen that of a known individual or recognizable only as a race and gender? What reason would someone have to designate the preservation of his remains and ensure that the narrative of his life stays permanently attached? Does a very personal part, like face or skin, commemorate the life of that particular body or can it still be used to represent universal human anatomy? The answers are in part determined by whether the donor wanted his or her identity associated with the specimen. I examine the gradations of identity as represented by three museum objects in three different time periods. The first is the autobiography of a nineteenth-century criminal bound at his request in iii his skin (at the Boston Athenaeum).
[Show full text]
Body Worlds: Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach to Science Exhibitions
Making Meaning of von Hagens’ Body Worlds: Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach to Science Exhibitions by Michelle Melodie Dubek A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Curriculum Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto © Copyright by Michelle Melodie Dubek 2013 Making Meaning of von Hagens’ Body Worlds: Towards an Interdisciplinary Approach to Science Exhibitions Michelle Melodie Dubek Doctor of Philosophy Department of Curriculum Teaching and Learning Ontario Institute for Studies in Education University of Toronto 2013 Abstract Body Worlds is a traveling exhibition of plastinated human cadavers that offers the general public an opportunity to experience the human body in a unique way. It has been met with controversy and awe; public reactions and responses have been mixed. This case study research explored visitor responses to this controversial science exhibition, and examined the meaning visitors made of their experience. Specifically, the following research questions directed this study: Within the context of the Body Worlds exhibition: (a) What meaning did visitors make and how did they respond to the exhibits? (b) What tensions and issues arose for visitors? and (c) What did this type of exhibition convey about the changing role of science centres and the nature of their exhibitions? The primary sources of data for this study were 46 semi-structured interviews with visitors to the exhibition, observation notes, and 10 comment books including approximately 20 000 comments. Data suggested that the personal, physical, and sociocultural contexts (Falk & Dierking, 2000) contributed to visitor meaning meaning-making.
[Show full text]
Body Worlds and the Victorian Freak Show
“Skinless Wonders”: Body Worlds and the Victorian Freak Show Nadja Durbach Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Volume 69, Number 1, January 2014, pp. 38-67 (Article) Published by Oxford University Press For additional information about this article http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/jhm/summary/v069/69.1.durbach.html Access provided by Middlebury College (28 Jul 2014 12:06 GMT) “Skinless Wonders”: Body Worlds and the Victorian Freak Show NADJA DURBACH Department of History, University of Utah, Carolyn Tanner Irish Humanities Building, 215 South Central Campus Drive, Room 310, Salt Lake City, Utah 84112. Email: [email protected] ABSTRACT. In 2002, Gunther von Hagens’s display of plastinated corpses opened in London. Although the public was fascinated by Body Worlds, the media largely castigated the exhibition by dismissing it as a resuscitated Victorian freak show. By using the freak show analogy, the British press expressed their moral objection to this type of bodily display. But Body Worlds and nineteenth-century displays of human anomalies were linked in more complex and telling ways as both attempted to be simultaneously entertaining and educational. This essay argues that these forms of corpo- real exhibitionism are both examples of the dynamic relationship between the popular and professional cultures of the body that we often errone- ously think of as separate and discrete. By reading Body Worlds against the Victorian freak show, I seek to generate a fuller understanding of the his- torical and enduring relationship between exhibitionary culture and the discourses of science, and thus to argue that the scientiﬁc and the spectac- ular have been, and clearly continue to be, symbiotic modes of generating bodily knowledge.
[Show full text]
Tracing the Body in Body Worlds, the Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies
ANATOMY OF SPECTATORSHIP: TRACING THE BODY IN BODY WORLDS, THE ANATOMICAL EXHIBITION OF REAL HUMAN BODIES by Rebecca Scott Bachelor of Arts, Simon Fraser University, 2005 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the School of Communication © Rebecca Scott 2008 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2008 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. APPROVAL Name: Rebecca Scott Degree: MA Titles: Anatomy of Spectatorship: Tracing the Body in Body Worlds, the Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Peter Chow-White Assistant Professor, School of Communication Dr. Kirsten McAllister Assistant Professor School of Communication Dr. Zoe Druick Associate Professor School of Communication Dr Kimberly Sawchuk Associate Professor Department of Communication Studies Concordia University Date: ii SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the pUblic at the "Institutional Repository" link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work.
[Show full text]
Anatomy of Spectatorship: Tracing the Body in Body Worlds, the Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies
ANATOMY OF SPECTATORSHIP: TRACING THE BODY IN BODY WORLDS, THE ANATOMICAL EXHIBITION OF REAL HUMAN BODIES by Rebecca Scott Bachelor of Arts, Simon Fraser University, 2005 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS In the School of Communication © Rebecca Scott 2008 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2008 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy or other means, without permission of the author. Library and Archives Bibliothèque et Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l’édition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-58543-6 Our file Notre référence ISBN: 978-0-494-58543-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L’auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant à la Bibliothèque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par télécommunication ou par l’Internet, prêter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des thèses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, à des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, électronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L’auteur conserve la propriété du droit d’auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protège cette thèse.
[Show full text]
Dr. Gunther Von Hagens Inventor of Plastination – Creator of BODY WORLDS
Dr. Gunther von Hagens Inventor of Plastination – Creator of BODY WORLDS Bringing the anatomy of humans and animals to audiences worldwide: Dr. Gunther von Hagens is not only a physician and anatomist but also a scientist and inventor. He is recognized as a forward-thinking free spirit who made the human body accessible for education and research in unprecedented ways. Dr. Gunther von Hagens began his medical studies at the University of Jena in 1965. He was arrested while attempting to flee East Germany after distributing leaflets in protest against the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops. In 1970, West German authorities secured his freedom. He completed his medical studies at the University of Lubeck in 1973 and a year later he received his license to practice medicine. He then moved to the University of Heidelberg, where he completed his doctorate in the Department of Anaesthesia and Emergency Medicine. In 1975, he began to work at the Institutes of Anatomy and Pathology, which ignited his passion for invention and to teach anatomy in a new way. It was in 1977 at the University of Heidelberg that he invented plastination, a vacuum technique to permanently preserve anatomical specimens with reactive plastics specially developed for this purpose. He subsequently founded BIODUR® Products to market the respective polymers and equipment to other institutions around the world. In order to bring plastination to a wider audience, he founded the Institute for Plastination in 1993. Soon after, together with his colleague and wife Dr. Angelina Whalley, he created the first anatomical exhibition of real human bodies, titled BODY WORLDS, which has now seen by more than 47 million people worldwide.
[Show full text]
January 2008 TABLE of CONTENTS
\ Volume 20, Issue 1 – January 2008 TABLE OF CONTENTS News from the Chair ..... Page 2 CCW Program Committee Editor‘s Notes .............. Page 2 Announcements: Announcements/Events. Page 3 The Audrey Jessup. ...... Page 4 January 9th, 2008 Meeting: Forensic Corner: A is for Autopsy … ........ Page 5 Identity Theft Website News ............. Page 8 Spice up your Dialogue.. Page 9 RCMP Sgt. Chaughan Garvey will speak on identity theft. Sgt. Garvey was formerly with the RCMP fraud section, and has recently been seconded to Top Ten List for 2007…...Page 10 the proceeds of crime division. Membership Update……..Page 10 Giles Blunt Meeting Report by Paul Sadler ….Page 11 th* February 20 2008 Meeting: Member Bio: Rachel Pitcher ............ Page 13 Characters with Character Prime Crime Book Review: Come to the February meeting and hear our very own all-star panel talk The Writing Diet ......... Page 13 about how to build interesting and believable characters. Tom Curran, Barbara Fradkin and Mary Jane Maffini will tell us about how they create characters for their novels, the essence of their principal protagonists, and the role of sidekicks. This is a session you won‘t want to miss. Capital Crime Writers is an organization of writers working in the mystery field, and readers who love the genre. We meet on the second Wednesday of each month to discuss writing and crime, with the exception of July and August when meetings are suspended Thomas Rendell Barbara Fradkin Mary Jane for the summer. Curran Maffini Membership is $30 per year, $15 corresponding. *Please note that due to other commitments the Library and Archives Canada is not available to us on our usual meeting date.
[Show full text]
The Documentary Handbook
The Documentary Handbook The Documentary Handbook takes a thematic approach to documentary, including chapters on the many myriad forms we watch today – from the cinematic releases of Michael Moore to low-budget internet efforts like Video Nation, from ‘shock docs’ to reality television. The Documentary Handbook is a critical introduction to the documentary film, its theory and changing practices. The book charts the evolution of the documentary from screen art to core television genre, its metamorphosis into many different types of factual TV programmes and its current emergence in forms of new media. It analyses those pathways and the transformation of means of production through economic, technical and editorial changes. The Documentary Handbook explains the documentary process, skills and job specifica- tions for everyone from industry entrants to senior personnel, and shows how the industrial evolution of television has relocated the powers and principles of decision-making. Through the use of professional ‘expert briefings’ it gives practical pointers about programme- making, from researching, developing and pitching programme ideas to their production and delivery through a fast-evolving multi-platform universe. Peter Lee-Wright is a documentary filmmaker with 30 years’ experience working for the BBC and Channel 4. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Media and Communications at Goldsmiths, University of London. His most recent writing includes critical overviews of sports documentary and trade union documentary in Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film (2005) and analysis of the changes taking place in multimedia news, notably in New Media, Old News (edited by Natalie Fenton, 2009). Media Practice Edited by James Curran, Goldsmiths, University of London The Media Practice handbooks are comprehensive resource books for students of media and journalism, and for anyone planning a career as a media professional.
[Show full text]
The Problematic Exposure of Flesh
THE PROBLEMATIC EXP OSURE OF FLESH For over a decade, plastinator Gunter von Hagen has enraged and fascinated audiences around the world through his always controversial Body World shows. His work is carried out in the name of education but at times ethical considerations around his work tend to focus on the inappropriateness of some displays. We interviewed the scientist/artist as his show focusing on plastinated animals hits the road. Questions by Giovanni Aloi Text by The Institution for Plastination unther von Hagens' life reads like an The family lived briefly in Berlin and its archetypal scientist's resume— vicinity, before finally settling in Greiz, a small town distinguished by early precocity, where von Hagens remained until the age of 19. G scholarship, discovery, experimentation, As a child, he was diagnosed with a rare bleeding and invention. It is also the profile of a man disorder that restricted his activities and required shaped by extraordinary events, and marked by long bouts of hospitalization that he says, fostered defiance and daring. Von Hagens' two year in him a sense of alienation and nonconformity. imprisonment by East German authorities for At age 6, von Hagens nearly died and was in political reasons, his release after a $20,000 intensive care for many months. His daily payment by the West German government, his encounters there with doctors and nurses left an pioneering invention that halts decomposition of indelible impression on him, and ignited in him a the body after death and preserves it for didactic desire to become a physician. He also showed eternity, his collaboration with donors including his an interest in science from an early age, best friend, who willed and entrusted their bodies reportedly "freaking out" at the age of twelve to him for dissection and public display, and his during the Russian launch of Sputnik into space.
[Show full text]
Performing Bodies: the Onsc Truction of the Unconstructed in Gunter Von Hagens’ Body Worlds Elizabethada Wright University of Minnesota Duluth, [email protected]
Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine Volume 3 | Issue 1 Article 12 2017 Performing Bodies: The onsC truction of the Unconstructed in Gunter von Hagens’ Body Worlds Elizabethada Wright University of Minnesota Duluth, [email protected] Mary Fitzgerald unaffiliated, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive Recommended Citation Wright, Elizabethada and Fitzgerald, Mary (2017) "Performing Bodies: The onC struction of the Unconstructed in Gunter von Hagens’ Body Worlds," Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine: Vol. 3 : Iss. 1 , Article 12. Available at: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/vol3/iss1/12 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by theRepository at St. Cloud State. It has been accepted for inclusion in Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine by an authorized editor of theRepository at St. Cloud State. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Performing Bodies: The onsC truction of the Unconstructed in Gunter von Hagens’ Body Worlds Cover Page Footnote N/A This article is available in Survive & Thrive: A Journal for Medical Humanities and Narrative as Medicine: https://repository.stcloudstate.edu/survive_thrive/vol3/iss1/12 2017, Volume 3, Issue 1 Article Performing Bodies: The Construction of the Unconstructed in Gunter von Hagens’ Body Worlds Elizabetha A. Wright University of Minnesota–Duluth Mary Fitzgerald Independent Scholar This article argues Gunther von Hagens’ “Body Worlds” exhibit is not what it purports to be, genuine bodies presented without interpretation that allow observers to better understand and marvel at the human body.
[Show full text]
Sargent's Court Reporting Service, Inc. (814) 536-8908 2
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUDICIARY COMMITTEE PUBLIC HEARING IN RE: HOUSE BILL #2299 COMMERCIAL DISPLAY OF HUMAN REMAINS * * * * * * * * * * BEFORE: THOMAS R. CALTAGIRONE, Majority Chairman RON MARSICO, Minority Chairman Kathy Manderino, Member Sean Ramaley, Member Thomas Creighton, Member Bernard O'Neill, Member John Evans, Member John Pallone, Member Carl Mantz, Member Mark Keller, Member Harold James, Member Craig Dally, Member William Andring, Counsel Karen Cotes, Counsel HEARING: Tuesday, August 5, 2008 Commencing at 10:00 a.m. Reporter: Alicia Brant Any reproduction of this transcript is prohibited without authorization by the certifying agency Sargent's Court Reporting Service, Inc. (814) 536-8908 2 1 LOCATION: Bedford Springs Resort, Eisenhower Room 2 2138 Business Route 220 3 Bedford Springs, Pennsylvania 4 WITNESSES: Mike Fleck, Dr. Dennis Wint, Dr. Harry Wu, 5 Dr. Walter Hoffman, Attorney Brian Wainger, 6 Georgina Gomez 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 Sargent's Court Reporting Service, Inc. (814) 536-8908 3 1 I N D E X 2 3 OPENING REMARKS 4 By Chairman Caltagirone 5 - 7 5 TESTIMONY 6 By Representative Fleck 7 - 16 7 QUESTIONS 17 - 26 8 TESTIMONY 9 By Dr. Wint 26 - 33 10 QUESTIONS 33 - 42 11 TESTIMONY 12 By Dr. Wu 42 - 52 13 QUESTIONS 52 - 53 14 TESTIMONY 15 By Dr. Hoffman 54 - 57 16 QUESTIONS 57 - 78 17 TESTIMONY 18 By Attorney Wainger 79 - 88 19 QUESTIONS 89 - 118 20 TESTIMONY 21 By Ms. Gomez 119 - 126 22 QUESTIONS 126 - 140 23 CERTIFICATE 142 24 25 Sargent's Court Reporting Service, Inc.
[Show full text]
Anatomy Live the Production of This Book Was Made Possible by the Support of Het Oranjehotel and the Netherlands Society for Scientific Research (Nwo)
Anatomy Live The production of this book was made possible by the support of Het Oranjehotel and the Netherlands Society for Scientific Research (nwo) Final editing: Fleur Bokhoven and Laura Karreman Cover: Sacha van den Haak and Floris Schrama Lay-out: V3-Services, Baarn ISBN 978 90 5356 516 2 NUR 670 © Maaike Bleeker / Amsterdam University Press, 2008 All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this book may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the written permission of both the copyright owner and the author of the book. Anatomy Live: Performance and the Operating Theatre Edited by Maaike Bleeker Contents Acknowledgements 7 Prologue - Men with Glass Bodies 9 Francis Barker Introduction 11 Maaike Bleeker Performance Documentation 1 23 Holoman; Digital Cadaver (Mike Tyler) Digital Cadavers and Virtual Dissection 29 José van Dijck ‘Who Were You?’: The Visible and the Visceral 49 Ian Maxwell Performance Documentation 2 67 Excavations: Fresh but Rotten (Marijs Boulogne) The Anatomy Lesson of Professor Moxham 75 Karen Ingham ‘Be not faithless but believing’: Illusion and Doubt in the Anatomy Th eatre 93 Gianna Bouchard Performance Documentation 3 111 De Anatomische Les (Glen Tetley) Of Dissection and Technologies of Culture in Actor Training Programs – an Example from 1960s West Germany 113 Anja Klöck Ocular Anatomy, Chiasm, and Theatre Architecture as
[Show full text]