Body Worlds Decoded opened this weekend at the Tech Museum of Innovation in San Jose and will stay for a record 10 years. In San Jose, the exhibition of preserved human bodies and organs comes with a Silicon Valley spin, incorporating augmented reality and drawing big funding from one of the region’s top venture capitalists.
The Tech, as the downtown San Jose museum is known, used the exhibit to debut Iris, its custom augmented reality system that lets visitors examine organs and body systems through immersive graphics.
Venture capitalist John Doerr, chairman of Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, and his wife Ann donated $5 million to the museum to make the exhibit possible.
Body Worlds will run for an “unprecedented” 10 years at The Tech.
"Body Worlds Decoded is an experience like no other, and it is only fitting that this blending of nature and technology should be celebrated in Silicon Valley,” Doerr said in a statement. “Ann and I are thrilled to help bring this experience to life, and it is our dream that it will inspire youth and contribute to a greater understanding of the life sciences.”
Browse through the gallery below to get a closer look at Body Worlds at The Tech.
BodyWorlds Decoded opened Oct. 15 at The Tech Museum of Innovation in downtown San Jose and will stay for an unprecedented 10-year run. The exhibit features eight full-body plastinated human bodies like the ones seen here, as well as more than 60 individual specimens that allow visitors to explore organs and complex human body systems.
The bodies and specimens were preserved by Dr. Gunther von Hagens’ Institute for Plastination, which created Body Worlds to offer the public a way to directly explore the mysteries of human anatomy.
Tim Ritchie, president and CEO of the Tech Museum, opened the exhibit this weekend. “Body Worlds Decoded is one of the most ambitious and exciting anatomy experiences ever created,” he said in a statement. “The human body contains so many mysteries, and the implementation of AR and all of its capabilities stands to provide valuable clues in unlocking those secrets and inspiring the next generation of advances in medicine and physiology.”