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Gunther von Hagens, scientist and inventor of Plastination, writes:
“I invented the method of Plastination in 1977 at the University of Heidelberg’s Institute of Pathology, patented it in the years from 1977 to 1982, and have since then continuously developed it further. While working as a scientist and research assistant, I was looking at a collection of specimens embedded in plastic. I wondered why the plastic was poured and then cured around the specimens rather than pushed into the cells, which would stabilize the specimens from within. This question kept pre-occupying me. Weeks later, I had to prepare serial slices of the human kidney for a research project. The embedding of the kidneys in paraffin and then slicing them into very thin slices appeared to be a rather wasteful process, since I only needed every fiftieth slice. Later, while in a shop watching a saleswoman slice the ham with a meat slicer, it occurred to me that such a machine would make an excellent tool to slice the kidneys. This machine became the first investment in the Plastination project. I embedded the kidney slices in liquid plexiglas, and the air bubbles that resulted from stirring the hardener had to be extracted under vacuum. During this process, it crossed my mind that it should be possible to impregnate an acetone soaked renal piece with plastic under vacuum conditions simply by extracting the acetone in the form of bubbles, just as is done in degassing. Though many acetone bubbles were extracted from the specimen, it shriveled into a black mass within the hour. Most people would have been discouraged by that result. My basic knowledge of physics and chemistry enabled me to conclude that the black coloration stemmed from the refractive qualities of the plexiglas, and that the shrinkage was due to the accelerated speed of the impregnation process. This realization prompted me to repeat the experiment a week later using liquid silicone rubber that had more favorable light refractive properties. I administered the impregnation slowly, pouring fresh silicone in three separate baths to avoid premature hardening of the silicone and specimen from exposure to air. After curing the specimen in an oven, I held in the world’s first plastinate my hands. That was January 10, 1977 – the day I decided to make Plastination the focus of my life.”
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Gunther von Hagens in front of one plastinate of
the "Poker Trio", a group plastinate that was
specially crafted for the James Bond movie
"Casino Royale"
(2006).
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