von Hagens Plastination is a collaboration—a joint quest towards enlightenment between body donors, the team at von Hagens, educators and learners.
Plastinates from von Hagens plastination and the specimens created are the only anatomical teaching tool fueled by intellectual curiosity, forged in the heat of scientific discovery, enabled by the generosity of donors, shaped by the anatomist’s awe of the human body, and supported by the aspirations of educators and learners yearning for a more accurate representation of real human anatomy.
Donors who so generously willed their bodies for the purpose of Plastination to educate the public about anatomy and physiology take center stage in this unprecedented homage to humanity.
All real human specimens offered by von Hagens Plastination stem from a unique Body Donation Program established in Heidelberg, Germany in 1982, and later managed by the Institute for Plastination (IfP) in Heidelberg, established in 1993. Currently, the Institute for Plastination has a donor roster of more than 20,000 individuals. That roster includes mostly Germans or other European, but there are also 1,000 North Americans registered.
Von Hagens uses the donated bodies of people who, during their lifetime, willed their bodies for Plastination and the education of many.
From the beginning, the donors were excited about the groundbreaking technique of Plastination, and recognized that they were going to be part of something unprecedented. They wanted to make the education of future generations their enduring legacy.
The donors’ participation is facilitated by anatomist, Dr. Gunther von Hagens: the creator of BODY WORLDS, and the inventor of Plastination, the groundbreaking method of specimen preservation that he first pioneered for the education of medical students. He is aided by a team of more than 100 who perform dissection.
Learners and educators that utilize plastinated specimens are also full participants in the scientific quest. Their efforts to teach from and with plastinates and to fathom the mysteries of the human body are marked by great curiosity, awe, and gratitude. All who study anatomy and medicine using plastinates are helping the donors fulfill their last wish.
