Body World, Gunther von Hagen and human Plastinates

My family ahd I saw them yesterday at the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago. (Or as my dd, Sage, age five says "The Museum of Science and Interesting!" LOL!)

Von Hagen has developed a process of replacing the fluid parts of the human body with plastinate and then hardening them so they can be put on display. His original aim was for medical schools and medical students, but they are so facinating that they are now available to the general public.

Some are just the arterial system, some are connective tissue and bones, some are of fetuses and one of a pregnant womyn who willed her body to van Hagen when she realized her illness wouldn't allow her to live to complete her pregnancy. The plastinates are on display in Classic Anatomical poses, as in Rennasannce texts for physicians, and despite some people's revulsion to them, or even moral offense to them, I found them facinating, and I found myself giving little A&P lectures for my own children, and other preteens and teens (and a few parents) who were extremely interested in what they bodies looked like and how they work.

Make the trip to Chicago, or find out when this exibit will be in your area. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Here is some sites with some images (although in the first one, the images are good, but I really don't like the text) and also van Hagen's personal site.
http://www.dcs-science.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/Information/Body%20Worlds/body_worlds.htm

and
www.bodyworlds.com which tells where the exibit will be and where it is at.

Totally amazing, the human body.

 

Here is one of the more famous exibits.

 

Nobody cares? This is really cool. Especially if you are interested in the workings and anatomy of the human body, or the body as Art.

 

I care, I saw it when it came to London and I agree that it is fascinating and anyone who is able to visit should do so.