Body Worlds creator Gunther von Hagens dies at 81; family will plastinate his body

Gunther von Hagens, the German anatomist who created the Body Worlds exhibitions of preserved human and animal bodies, has died aged 81, his family said on Monday.

His team said he died on Friday.

Von Hagens had asked for his own body to be preserved through plastination after his death, and his family said it would carry out his wish.

He invented plastination, a technique that preserves human and animal tissue by replacing water and fat with chemical compounds.

His Body Worlds exhibitions displayed dissected bodies in lifelike poses, revealing muscles, skeletons and internal organs. The exhibitions attracted millions of visitors around the world.

They also generated controversy and sometimes faced calls for bans. Critics accused von Hagens of voyeurism and of profiting commercially from death.

A public autopsy filmed before an audience in London in 2002 further increased his notoriety.

Von Hagens was born on January 10, 1945, in what was then Nazi-occupied Poland and grew up in communist East Germany.

He was imprisoned after attempting to flee East Germany and later moved to West Germany, where he developed plastination in 1977 following his medical studies.

His wife and collaborator, Angelina Whalley, said his work was intended to help people understand their bodies and had scientific and educational value.