...While searching among his late mother's possessions, Paul Kaufmann happened on an ancient, pear-shaped box labeled "Beethoven." Years of investigation by historians and scientists make a compelling case that the box was labeled accurately. Exhibit A: Kaufmann's great-great uncle was a physician closely involved in the 1863 exhumation of Beethoven (and Franz Schubert) largely for scientific study; according to several accounts, the physician kept Beethoven's skull. Exhibit B: Tests of existing strands of the composer's hair point to a DNA match. For Exhibits C through Z, see Colin Dickey's book, Cranioklepty. In 2005, Kaufmann loaned the skull, which is in fragments, to the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San José State University, so that tests might be conducted to learn about Beethoven's medical condition and cause of death.
Now Kaufmann would like to find a permanent home for the skull. "The objective is to share it with the public," he told me. "In my heart it should be in a museum." He also hopes that a compatible institution will pay in excess of $100,000.
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For Sale: Beethoven's Skull
...While searching among his late mother's possessions, Paul Kaufmann happened on an ancient, pear-shaped box labeled "Beethoven."
Years of investigation by historians and scientists make a compelling case that the box was labeled accurately. Exhibit A: Kaufmann's great-great uncle was a physician closely involved in the 1863 exhumation of Beethoven (and Franz Schubert) largely for scientific study; according to several accounts, the physician kept Beethoven's skull. Exhibit B: Tests of existing strands of the composer's hair point to a DNA match. For Exhibits C through Z, see Colin Dickey's book, Cranioklepty.
In 2005, Kaufmann loaned the skull, which is in fragments, to the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies at San José State University, so that tests might be conducted to learn about Beethoven's medical condition and cause of death.
Now Kaufmann would like to find a permanent home for the skull. "The objective is to share it with the public," he told me. "In my heart it should be in a museum." He also hopes that a compatible institution will pay in excess of $100,000.
-Keith Thomson,
huffingtonpost.com
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