Inventor of Plastination Dr. Gunther von Hagens Dies at 81

Key facts

• Gunther von Hagens, the inventor of plastination and creator of the Body Worlds exhibitions, died at the age of 81.
• He developed the plastination technique, in which fluids and fatty tissue in corpses are replaced by rubber and polymers.
• His Body Worlds exhibitions have been viewed by more than 58 million people worldwide.
• He was born in Nazi-occupied Poland and grew up in communist East Germany before fleeing to the West in 1970.
• He performed the first public autopsy in London in 170 years in 2002, which caused controversy.
• His family stated that he wished for his body to be plastinated after his death, and they intend to carry out that wish.
• He died after being admitted to a clinic in Heidelberg, Germany, with a brain haemorrhage, and had suffered from Parkinson's disease for nearly two decades.