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Beethoven died on March 26, 1827, 195 years after today. It is said that at 5 p.m.,"there suddenly appeared in the sky a lightning bolt and a thunder, Beethoven solemnly raised his right hand, clenched his fist, like a conductor." Seconds later, the music giant dropped his arm at the age of 56.

The death of the music giant is legendary.| Wiki's autopsy at the time revealed that Beethoven's body already had a number of serious health conditions. His liver was atrophied, showing severe cirrhosis and signs of lead poisoning. In addition, his kidneys, pancreas and spleen are not very healthy, and there is damage to the auditory nerve. The researchers also believe Beethoven had some degree of brain atrophy, but he showed no signs of cognitive impairment at the time.

However, Beethoven, who wrote "Symphony of Destiny," although in poor physical condition, still has tenacious will and persistent pursuit of art. Two days after Beethoven's death, several documents were found in his desk, in which Beethoven stated that he could not leave this world until he had composed the work of his creative impulse. He also asked his doctors at the time to describe and publicize the disease after his death.

Beethoven continued to compose in his final years in poor health.| Wiki Then, more than 100 years later, Beethoven's death remains obscure. From ancient times to the present, people have tried to find Beethoven's health and living habits from various letters and diaries, as well as doctor's notes and skeleton analysis.

We seem to have heard many versions of Beethoven's death analysis since childhood. Legend has it that Beethoven's lead poisoning was due to heavy metal contaminants accumulated in his favorite river fish, and some say it was due to his long-term use of lead-containing wine vessels. Beethoven died of a rare bacterial infection affecting the digestive system, or pancreatitis and cirrhosis caused by heavy drinking, doctors said.

As a child, I heard stories that Beethoven died from eating contaminated fish.| Pixabay Now, with the development of science and technology, people can analyze this problem in more scientific ways than just guessing from historical data. In a study published just last week, a strand of Beethoven's hair elicited the disease that plagued him, the cause of his death and even revealed family secrets.

When Beethoven died, a man named Ferdinand Shearer cut off some of his hair and kept it in a locket. A box of Beethoven Hair, auctioned by Sotheby's in 1994, was bought by the Beethoven Society of America and preserved at San Jose State University in California. Some of the boxes were traded privately and collected.

Today, these hairs have become research materials for scientists.| In 2014, it was suggested that Beethoven's hair could be used for DNA analysis! Wouldn't that tell us about his health? So Beethoven scholars began searching the world for his hair, buying not only the little box mentioned above, but also some from other sources, and finally collected eight strands of Beethoven's hair.

The sources of Beethoven's hair collected by the researchers are all written in the paper, which is very interesting.| However, whether Beethoven's own hair is preserved today may still be a fundamental question. After analyzing the hairs, the researchers found that only five of them could be identified as genuine Beethoven hairs. One strand was false, belonging to Ferdinand Shearer's son's wife; the other could not be ascertained.

The fake locks of hair were not Beethoven's, but a woman's.| Reference 1 Researchers conducted DNA analysis of Beethoven's hair and found some health problems. For example, he carries a genetic risk for liver disease. Beethoven was also found to have had hepatitis B because his hair still bore traces of the disease.

Combined with previous historical findings, the fatal liver injury may have been due to Beethoven's drinking condition. The analysis of his hair did show some metabolic biomarkers of alcohol abuse, but it was difficult to determine that Beethoven drank too much.

The lead poisoning-related claim was rejected in this study, which the researchers said might not be reliable. After all, it is possible that the hair containing lead is not his.

Now it seems that the possibility of cirrhosis is still relatively high.| In summary, this study reveals the cause of Beethoven's severe liver disease, which is likely to have been his death.

However, in addition to the cause of death, there was an unexpected discovery. When compared to the genes of five people named van Beethoven who live in Belgium today, it turns out that Beethoven and their Y chromosomes are different, but they should have the same ancestor and the Y chromosome should be passed down from generation to generation. After all, these five people had the same Y chromosome as Beethoven's great-great-great-great-grandfather. Why didn't Beethoven match it?

Ludwig van Beethoven, who was born here, probably didn't think his last name wasn't van Beethoven.| Wiki It is possible that Beethoven, or Beethoven's ancestor, was a child of the Lao Wang family next door. However, it is not certain who is the illegitimate child, only to speculate that Beethoven himself, or Beethoven's direct paternal line within seven generations above, one of them is illegitimate.

So the researchers began to speculate. It has been speculated that Beethoven's father was illegitimate, because Beethoven's grandmother was an alcoholic and might have had an affair, and his grandfather and Beethoven's father were not on good terms. But some people do not think so, saying: "Beethoven was rumored to be a bastard, Beethoven did not refute it. Maybe he knew he was..."

？| Wiki However, none of this is conclusive, since scientists can only speculate from existing evidence in hair…However, it is amazing how much information can be derived from hair preserved in history. Science is constantly developing the ability to find more information from DNA, and it can know more than just gossip.

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resources

[1]https://www.cell.com/current-biology/fulltext/S0960-9822(23)00181-1

[2] https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/22/health/beethoven-death-dna-hair.html

This article comes from Weixin Official Accounts: Bring Science Home (ID: steamforkids), Author: Everything

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