How did Beethoven die?
Filed in archive News on December 8, 2005
Lead poisoning:
On Tuesday morning, Walsh stood at a lectern at Argonne National Laboratory, near Darien, and verified what some had suspected about the great composer who was plagued for three decades by digestion problems, chronic abdominal pain, irritability and depression: He had died from lead poisoning.
So confounded and distressed by his plight, which also included extremely foul body odor and halitosis, Beethoven left written requests that a physician examine his body after his death to determine the cause of his demise in hope of saving others from the same fate.
Using advanced X-ray technology at Argonne, scientists helped confirm that Beethoven, who died in 1827 at age 56, had 60 times more lead in his system than what is considered average today.
So confounded and distressed by his plight, which also included extremely foul body odor and halitosis, Beethoven left written requests that a physician examine his body after his death to determine the cause of his demise in hope of saving others from the same fate.
Using advanced X-ray technology at Argonne, scientists helped confirm that Beethoven, who died in 1827 at age 56, had 60 times more lead in his system than what is considered average today.
Permalink: How did Beethoven die?
Tags: lead poisoning
Vote for How did Beethoven die?:
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Rating: 7.52 out of 279 vote(s) cast.
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Response from:
karina
(04/01/09 12:25pm)
beethoven was killed by who?
Response from:
linto
(02/04/10 10:20am)
i think that bethoven died because of poison. i love his song fur elise, i can also play it because i love it very much. i am so sad that bethoven is actullay dead because he was a little young to die.
Response from:
van
(02/18/10 1:19pm)
murder
Response from:
Bob Smith
(05/24/10 12:42pm)
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Response from:
me
(03/09/11 2:41am)
how did he really die? and for the kid before me BYE
Response from:
ozel guvenlik
(04/18/11 10:54am)
Beethoven was known to suffer from a variety of aches and pains late in his life, and seems to have had a fondness for painkillers. One of the commonly used painkillers at the time was salicin (dried, powdered willow bark - an early form of aspirin), which has been shown to cause papillary necrosis if taken in large amounts. It is fair to say then, that in the absence of any other evidence of hypertension or diabetes, Beethoven likely died from papillary necrosis (end-stage kidney failure) resulting from a combination of liver cirrhosis and analgesic nephropathy.
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