Barefoot Mastermind
Three hundred, eighty-five thousand people have visited Body Worlds Two in Denver, the city broke all North American venue attendance records.
On the second day of the lecture, nearly 200 people crowded the entrance to the theater, an hour before the doors opened to the Imax where Dr. Gunther Von Hagens, creator of Body Worlds Two spoke on Friday,
Hagens is the mastermind behind the preservation of human bodies, his new technique, plastination, allows students of medicine to study the body without having to rely on cadavers and formaldehyde.
There has been controversy over the display of real human bodies at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, but the city was not the first to raise comment about the morality of people and children in the exhibit.
Hagens stood at the base of a theater packed with eager listeners; his customary black cap accompanied him behind the podium where he stood barefoot. His thick dialect flooded the room, demanding good listening skills to catch his witty humor.
In thick accent, Hagens described plastination as a complicated process that requires 1500 labor hours, more than $40,000 and an entire year to complete. Unlike traditional preservation in formaldehyde, which decays over time, plastination provides permanence previously impossible.
The plastinates are sturdy and somewhat pliable, they lack the undesirable smell of preservation chemicals as well, making them a welcome study aid for universities. Hagens plans to make plastinates available for study in the future.
Designed to celebrate life, the exhibit contains only subjects who’s bodies have been donated for the purpose of plastination. It includes child and infant subjects as well, sparking controversy in many parts of the world.
Body Worlds began in Germany where, according to Hagens, only two percent of people opposed the exhibition. In Japan, six percent were against the bodies. He referred to the press as a separate entity whose opposition ran 50/50.
Hagens was comfortable in front of the crowd, he showed shocking pictures on the screen and explained what would stun most people without hesitation. For 28 years Hagens has been working on plastination, he is leading the scientific world in anatomical studies and has every right to be at ease behind the podium.
When asked, Hagens said that he would donate his own body to be preserved with plastination, but for now he is working to preserve an elephant and bring plastinates into universities.
What could inspire a man to choose this profession? During the Q&A Hagens credited the life choice to “150 years of Freud.” Everyone in the room got the glimmer of humor from the barefoot-mastermind before them.
On the second day of the lecture, nearly 200 people crowded the entrance to the theater, an hour before the doors opened to the Imax where Dr. Gunther Von Hagens, creator of Body Worlds Two spoke on Friday,
Hagens is the mastermind behind the preservation of human bodies, his new technique, plastination, allows students of medicine to study the body without having to rely on cadavers and formaldehyde.
There has been controversy over the display of real human bodies at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, but the city was not the first to raise comment about the morality of people and children in the exhibit.
Hagens stood at the base of a theater packed with eager listeners; his customary black cap accompanied him behind the podium where he stood barefoot. His thick dialect flooded the room, demanding good listening skills to catch his witty humor.
In thick accent, Hagens described plastination as a complicated process that requires 1500 labor hours, more than $40,000 and an entire year to complete. Unlike traditional preservation in formaldehyde, which decays over time, plastination provides permanence previously impossible.
The plastinates are sturdy and somewhat pliable, they lack the undesirable smell of preservation chemicals as well, making them a welcome study aid for universities. Hagens plans to make plastinates available for study in the future.
Designed to celebrate life, the exhibit contains only subjects who’s bodies have been donated for the purpose of plastination. It includes child and infant subjects as well, sparking controversy in many parts of the world.
Body Worlds began in Germany where, according to Hagens, only two percent of people opposed the exhibition. In Japan, six percent were against the bodies. He referred to the press as a separate entity whose opposition ran 50/50.
Hagens was comfortable in front of the crowd, he showed shocking pictures on the screen and explained what would stun most people without hesitation. For 28 years Hagens has been working on plastination, he is leading the scientific world in anatomical studies and has every right to be at ease behind the podium.
When asked, Hagens said that he would donate his own body to be preserved with plastination, but for now he is working to preserve an elephant and bring plastinates into universities.
What could inspire a man to choose this profession? During the Q&A Hagens credited the life choice to “150 years of Freud.” Everyone in the room got the glimmer of humor from the barefoot-mastermind before them.
posted by Nelsmart at
7:27 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home