# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Movie 23-21 – 3D Flythrough Head to Tail

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Home | Terms of Use | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Contact | Endorsement Form | Site Map | Donate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Movie 16-17 – 3D Flythrough Tail to Head

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Home | Terms of Use | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Contact | Endorsement Form | Site Map | Donate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Stage 17 embryos have a greatest length of 11 to 14 mm and an estimated post-fertilization age of 41 days. Hand rays have formed and the auricular hillocks are distinct. The stage is represented by Carnegie embryo #6520. It has a corrected greatest length of 14.2 mm (after fixation). The specimen is considered to be median within the stage.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Stage 14 embryos have a greatest length of 5 to 7 mm and an estimated postfertilization age of 33 days. The optic cup and lens pit are present and the endolymphatic duct begins. The stage is represented by Carnegie embryo #6502. It has an estimated greatest length of 6.7 mm (after fixation) and is on the borderline of the next stage.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lovers is an Expressionist Watercolor and Pencil Painting created by Egon Schiele in 1914. It lives at the Leopold Museum in Vienna. The image is in the Public Domain, and tagged Muses, Couples, Self-portraits and Valerie Neuzil (Wally).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Abstract

Glass forms when a liquid is fast cooled preventing crystallization, across a reversible process known as the glass transition. Organic tissues are commonly preserved as glass by processes of vitrification at very low temperatures, known as cryopreservation, and can return to their original soft state when heated back to ambient temperature. It would therefore be impossible to find organic glass embedded in volcanic deposits that have reached several hundred of Celsius degrees. Here we demonstrate that material with glassy appearance found within the skull of a seemingly male human body entombed within the hot pyroclastic flow deposits of the 79 CE Vesuvius eruption formed by a unique process of vitrification of his brain at very high temperature, and is the only such occurrence on Earth. Calorimetric analyses show that the temperature at which the brain transformed into glass was well above 510 °C, implying that the body was exposed to the passage and vanishing of a short-lived, dilute and much hotter pyroclastic flow, explaining its early fast heating and the following very fast cooling. The glass that formed as a result of such a unique process attained a perfect state of preservation of the brain and its microstructures.

Similar content being viewed by others

Article Open access

Article Open access

Article Open access

Main

Natural glasses are uncommon but not rare on Earth1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9. The glass state represents a non-equilibrium, non-crystalline condensed phase of matter characterized by the presence of a glass transition1. Glass formation occurs as the cooling path of a liquid leads to an increase in its structural relaxation time, thereby circumventing the crystallization process and entering the phase referred to as the glass transition interval, during which the liquid properties deviate from equilibrium. The temperature at which this deviation occurs is known as fictive temperature T f 2. T f is not a fixed temperature, as it depends, for a given liquid, on the cooling rate, i.e., the faster the cooling rate, the higher T f 2,3,4,10,11,12,13,14. Glasses can unlock their thermal history if heated above T f. Given such conditions of formation, natural glasses can only occur on Earth if their T f is above ambient temperature. This is the case of silicic glasses that commonly form in volcanic environments from the fast cooling of viscous magma (eruptive temperatures 700-1200 °C depending on chemical composition) in subaerial or subaqueous conditions (e.g., obsidian)15,16,17. More rarely silicic glasses may form by the melting of rocks across slipping faults or at the high-shear base of landslides and then their quenching as pseudotachylites18 or may also form when lightning strikes locally melt rocks which then quench as fulgurites19. In all these cases the silicate liquid temperatures are several hundred to above one thousand degrees Celsius, and the relative T f is in the same range.

By contrast, organic tissues are largely made of water, that is a liquid at ambient temperature, so that they can only be vitrified by quenching and storage well below 0 °C6. In cryopreservation, vitrification refers to the rapid cooling of organs to a stable, ice-free, glass-like state20 by immersion in liquid nitrogen to be fully preserved and returnable to its original state5; in this condition, the system becomes a glass, acquiring the properties of a solid but retaining the molecular structure of soft tissues typically at T f of -120 °C (± 10 °C)5,21. Consequently, no glasses obtained from the quenching of biological soft tissues can exist at ambient temperature as they would cross back above their T f and return to soft materials, which is why no such occurrences exist as natural glasses on Earth.

( a) Carbonized body of the guardian in his wooden bed within the Collegium Augustalium; the vitrified brain remains have been found within his skull. ( b) Panoramic eastward view of Herculaneum ruins with Vesuvius volcano in the background, and the location of the Collegium Augustalium within the city.

However, there is one exception. Unique apparently vitrified remnants of organic material, recognized as a human brain in origin, have been recently identified in the skull of a victim from the ancient Roman city of Herculaneum7, buried by the pyroclastic flow deposits that also destroyed Pompeii in 79 CE, during the most famous Plinian eruption of Vesuvius22,23,24,25,26. This unique finding belongs to a victim of the eruption found lying in his bed (Fig. 1a) inside the Collegium Augustalium (lat. 40°48'24"N, long. 14°20'52"E). He was a young male of about 20 years-old, believed to have been the guardian of the Collegium, a public building dedicated to the worship of Emperor Augustus, located on the city's main street (Decumanus maximus) (Fig. 1b)27. The remnants in the skull are proven to be organic and human brain owing to the preservation of proteins common in human brain tissue and fatty acids typical of both human brain triglycerides and human hair fat7, as well as their chemical composition8. The glassy nature of this material is suggested because of its black and shiny, obsidian-like appearance7 (Fig. 2a). Moreover, exceptionally well-preserved complex networks of neurons, axons, and other neural structures have been revealed by Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) investigation of the brain remains and those of the spinal cord (Fig. 2) of the guardian8, which exclude other types of more common preservation processes, such as saponification28,29. However, an unequivocal origin as an organic glass has not yet been demonstrated, nor the conditions at which such process might have occurred.

The 79 CE Vesuvius eruption killed instantly several thousands of people24,27, but of the approximately 2,000 bodies unearthed throughout the archaeological sites of the Vesuvian area30 the apparently vitrified remains of brain and spinal cord found in the Collegium Augustalium, is the only occurrence of this type8. This uniqueness requires very specific and rare conditions for glass formation and preservation. In addition, these unique conditions are completely counterintuitive and so far unexplored, as the temperatures of pyroclastic flow deposits that buried Herculaneum and Pompeii are well documented to have been several hundreds of degrees Celsius9,31,32,33. Such temperatures are expected to burn and destroy soft tissues, and certainly not lead to quenching. To unravel such a conundrum, here we present analytical and experimental data to constrain the conditions of soft tissue glass formation and preservation in a hot volcanic environment. Our findings have broad implications for material science, volcanology, forensic biology and archaeology.

Materials

The material analysed in this study consists of fragments sampled from within the skull and the spinal cord of a skeleton buried by the pyroclastic flow deposits of the 79 CE Vesuvius eruptions in the archaeological site of Herculaneum (Fig. 1; Table 1).

Table 1 Summary of samples and analyses conducted for the characterization of the vitrified human brain found at Herculaneum buried by deposits from the 79CE Vesuvius eruption. See Method section for explanation of analytical methods.

Material characterisation

The material analysed is made of angular clasts of variable shapes, black to dark grey and shiny under natural or artificial light (Fig. 2a). Clasts were sampled intact, directly from within the skull of the guardian (Fig. 1a). Their dimensions range 0.5-5 mm. Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) images (See Methods section) at low magnification show conchoidal surfaces with step-like fractures, with very sharp dihedral angles (Fig. 2b). At higher magnifications, micron-sized spherical voids occur both as isolate, or scattered, or clustered features (Fig. 2c, d). Several features of different shapes, characterised by a very high level of geometrical organization and complexity can be observed on the surfaces of the clasts (Fig. 2e, f), some of which have been recognized and interpreted as integrally preserved human neural structures8.

The density of the material averages at 1000 kg m − 3. The 3D scanning tomography (see Methods section) shows a very homogeneous material characterised by microporosity of 1.4 vol %. The porosity is made mostly by micron-sized scattered and isolated spherical voids and subordinate larger and more irregular voids formed by the coalescence of smaller features (Fig. SI1 in Supplementary Information, hereonward SI).

The SEM-EDS (energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) analysis (See Methods Section) on groundmass performed during the FE-SEM images acquisition revealed a composition that is predominantly C and O with minor amounts of Na, Cl, K Mg, Al and Si (Fig. SI2).

Images at different magnifications of the C1 sample: ( a) optical image under direct light. ( b) FE-SEM image showing the angular shape of the fragments. ( c), ( d) FE-SEM images detail spherical voids clustering and stepped fracture. ( e), ( f) FE-SEM details of preserved neural structures; white arrows point to the best preserved axons.

Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC)

During conventional (C)-DSC analysis (see Methods section), sample C7 was heated at a rate of 25 K min − 1 (0.42 K s − 1) and exhibited an endothermic event with an onset temperature of 420 °C (Fig. 3). Endothermic events are depicted by upward peaks in Fig. 3. In contrast, a small fragment from sample C1 was analyzed using flash (F)-DSC (see Methods section) at a significantly faster heating rate of 1000 K s − 1. This resulted in a similar endothermic event observed at a higher onset temperature of 510 °C (Fig. 3). The C-DSC analysis of sample C7 revealed a subsequent endothermic event peaking around 500 °C, followed by a sharp exothermic event reaching its peak at approximately 530 °C. Interestingly, F-DSC analysis also detected this exothermic event, albeit at a higher peak temperature of 600 °C (Fig. 3).

DSC curves for heating experiments. The blue line represents sample C7 analyzed using C-DSC at a heating rate of 25 K min − 1 (0.42 K s − 1), while the red line represents a fragment of sample C1 analyzed using F-DSC at a heating rate of 1000 K s − 1. Upward and downward peaks correspond to endothermic and exothermic events, respectively. The temperature at the onset of relaxation (Tf) is indicated by the intersection of the two tangents drawn to the baseline at the beginning of the first endothermic event. Thermal events are interpreted in the text.

Assuming the Arrhenius dependence and a balanced thermal history, the two onset temperatures (420 °C for C-DSC and 510 °C for F-DSC) allow a preliminary estimate of the enthalpy change of 390.1 kJ mol − 1 associated with relaxation (viscous flow) at the glass transition. Although an Arrhenius dependence is justified over a small range of heating rates, in this case 3.4 log units, the assumption of a matched cooling and heating rate underestimates the fraction of excess enthalpy originating from the thermal history of the samples with mismatched (i.e., this study) cooling and heating rate and its effect on the onset temperature of the glass transition. However, this effect is likely minor. For example, in the technical production of blast furnace slag (silicate) glasses, rapid quenching (~ 10 ⁵ K s − 1) leads to an excess enthalpy of ~ 55 kJ mol − 1 in relation to standard laboratory heating rates (10 K min − 1 = 0.17 K s − 1), about 7% of the activation enthalpy of viscous flow at the fictive temperature (740 kJ mol − 1)34. Similar small proportions of excess enthalpy are also reported for the production of glass fibers from basaltic rocks for insulation purposes35.

Post-analysis FE-SEM imaging indicated changes in the C-DSC sample during measurement, such as the formation of bubbles and crystals (Fig. 4). Consequently, we associated this alteration in sample texture with degassing, marked by the sharp C-DSC peak slightly above 500 °C. Thus, we assert that the degassing event in C-DSC analysis is preceded by structural relaxation of the material (endothermic event starting at 420 °C) and succeeded by crystallization (at 530 °C). The considerably faster F-DSC analyses suppressed the formation of bubbles and induced crystallization at a higher temperature (600 °C), preceded by structural relaxation (endothermic event starting at 510 °C).

In both C-DSC and F-DSC experiments, samples were subjected to a cooling downscan, returning to room temperature to align with the previous upscan. Subsequent upscans at the same rates did not exhibit any thermal events (Fig. SI3). Consequently, we inferred that after degassing and crystallization the samples were no longer in a glassy state.

Based on C-DSC results obtained from the first upscan up to 620 °C (Fig. 3), we targeted different temperatures by subjecting different fragments of sample C1 to four heating/cooling cycles (run#1-4) to variable maximum temperatures (T max). Specifically, in the first two runs (run#1 and run#2) the sample was heated up to T max of 520 °C. Subsequent cycles were conducted at progressively higher temperatures, with T max of 620 and 670 °C for run#3 and run#4, respectively. C-DSC results are reported in Fig. SI3. By comparing results of the first upscan for samples C7 (Fig. 3) and C1 (Fig. SI3) we notice that the DSC signals are almost overlapping. Minor differences can be due to heterogeneities between samples.

The recovered samples after run#2, run#3 and run#4 were analysed by FE-SEM, EDS and Raman spectroscopy (see Methods section) to detect possible evidence of material transformation and compositional changes.

Post-run#1 and #2 (maximum T of 520 °C) images show that the material did not change its glassy appearance, with surfaces and conchoidal fractures still very sharp, including the preserved neural structures (axons) emerging from the surface of the clast (Fig. SI4.1a-d). However, the clast surface was covered by micron-sized well-formed euhedral cubic crystals, which were not present in the original sample (Fig. 4 a, b). EDS analyses showed that the composition of these crystals is pure KCl, whereas the glass maintained its carbonaceous composition (Fig. SI4.1a-d).

Exposing the material to a higher maximum temperature of 620 °C (run#3) resulted in a visible degradation of its initial visual characteristics. Surfaces became more irregular and granular in texture (Fig. 4c). Some evidence of material relaxation was observed in the stepped fractures that appear weakly wavy instead of sharp. KCl crystals are still present but in lesser amounts. The surfaces also show abundant newly formed craters with, radial, micron-size, blade-like needle agglomerates emerging from some of them (Fig. 4 d).

The EDS composition of the blade-like needles indicates the presence of C, O, Na, P, Ca, K, Mg, Cl and Fe (Fig. SI4.2a-c). The composition of the groundmass instead remained mainly C with only traces of the other components (Fig. SI4.2d-f).

T max in run#4 was 670 °C. After the experiment, FE-SEM images show a further increase in the process of craterization of the exposed surfaces, transition to granular texture due to crystallization, and the formation of blade-like needle aggregates (Fig. 4 e, f). Also, the relaxation of the material appears more evident, with surfaces and edges that become more fluidal in shape.

SEM images (magnification on scale bar) of sample C1 after C-DSC experiments at progressively higher maximum temperatures. ( a) formation of new small KCl crystals at 520 °C on the undeformed sample surface. ( b) Detail of the newly formed crystals of KCl at 520 °C on sample surface. ( c) At 620 °C, crystallization is accompanied by modification of the sample surface which appears more granular and less sharp. ( d) Detail of sample surface at 620 °C, with formation of craters suggesting degassing and radial blade-like needles emerging from them. ( e), ( f) At 670 °C the surface of the sample becomes more granular with further evidence for relaxation of the material and craterization.

Raman spectroscopy

Raman analysis (see Methods section) conducted on fragments of the sample C1 groundmass (Fig. 5a) confirmed the organic nature of the material: the spectra are constituted of two main bands centred at 1330-1370 cm − 1 and 1590-1610 cm − 1, called D and G respectively36,37. The G band corresponds to graphite band (carbon)36,38, while the D band indicates the presence of disorder in the graphite structure39,40. D and G display almost equivalent intensity and shape, with the D band slightly wider than the G band.

( a) Representative Raman spectra of sample C1 acquired after each upscan at different T max; in black the original, pre-DSC, spectrum in comparison with analyses conducted after experiments, DSC run#1-4. ( b) Indicative Raman parameters: ID/IG ratio (circles) and D band position (squares) vs. temperature, colour legend as in a).

Raman analysis carried out after each experiment at increasing temperature (run#1-4) show changes in shape, intensity and position of the D and G bands with respect to those of the original sample (Fig. 5a). The width of the G band becomes narrower than the D band, a characteristic associated with the transition from amorphous carbonaceous material (pre-run sample) to material with higher structural order after heating. Similar information is given by the increase of D band intensity (I D) with temperature respect with to G band intensity (I G) (I D/I G in Fig. 5b). The change of I D is also accompanied by a shift of the D band towards lower wavelengths (Fig. 5b) and a consequent increasing separation from the G band. All the variations are excellent indicators of increasing structural order with thermal maturity, in the low thermal maturity range41,42,43. These variations are the very first to be shown on this kind of human organic material, and show that at increasing temperature corresponds an increase in structural order in agreement with observation from FE-SEM images (Fig. 4) and with calorimetric evidence for crystallization in the same analysed temperature range (Fig. 3).

Discussion

Although human brain preservation is documented in the archaeological record, it is a relatively infrequent phenomenon. The known mechanisms responsible for such occurrences are dehydration, saponification, tanning, and freezing29, but not vitrification. In addition, neuronal structures are poorly preserved in ancient brains44,45,46.

Our comprehensive chemical and physical characterization of the material sampled from the skull of a human body buried at Herculaneum by the 79 CE eruption of Mount Vesuvius shows compelling evidence that these are human brain remains, composed of organic glass formed at high temperatures, a process of preservation never previously documented for human or animal tissue, neither brain nor any other kind.

DSC analyses conducted at contrasting heating rates (25 K min − 1 and 1000 K s − 1) revealed consistent patterns indicative of three primary processes occurring within the samples during heating up to 670 °C. The most relevant process is the onset of a structural relaxation of the material, that is the fictive temperature Tf. Figure 3 shows that Tf for the slower heating rate (25 K min − 1) is at 420 °C and increases to 510 °C at the faster rate (1000 K s − 1). The identified structural relaxation extends for an interval of tens of degrees above Tf and is followed by degassing and crystallization events at higher temperatures (Fig. 3). These processes are accompanied by surface crater formation and KCl crystallization (Fig. 4), likely as a result of degassing of from the glass. The transformation of the material above its fictive temperature Tf is further corroborated by Raman spectroscopy (Fig. 5), which reveals increased order within the carbonaceous component. This transformation inhibits glass formation during experimental cooling, which may explain the absence of thermal events during subsequent upscans.

To determine the unknown cooling rate experienced by the sample during the volcanic event, and thus the temperature at which the material transformed from human tissue to glass, the temperature dependence of the melt viscosity is required47. With this information, cycles of matching heating and cooling at known rates across the glass transition interval are needed to retrieve the unknown cooling rate17. However, this is not feasible since the temperature dependence of the viscosity for our sample does not exist, preventing the assessment of the natural cooling rate at which the brain was vitrified. Nonetheless, in our experiments the glass underwent structural relaxation at Tf between 420 °C (25 K min − 1) and 510 °C (1000 K s − 1), allowing us to further investigate the thermal environment where quenching occurred. While this range is a measure of the uncertainties associated with the experiments, we have strong constraints that allow us to identify 510 °C and 1000 K s − 1 as the closest approximations for the temperature of liquid to glass transformation and the unknown cooling rate experienced by the sample.

The main constraint is the temperature of the pyroclastic deposits that embed the vitrified brain fragments. The emplacement temperatures of these deposits have been extensively studied by means of palaeomagnetism32,33 and reflectance of charcoal9,31. Both methods provide similar deposition temperatures between 315 °C and 465 °C. The implications of such high deposition temperatures are twofold. First, the preservation of the glass requires the temperature of the embedding pyroclastic material (up to 465 °C) to be (substantially) lower than the brain Tf, because otherwise the glass would have returned to a soft tissue and, at such high temperatures, disintegrated. Second, as a consequence, the vitrification of the brain must have occurred entirely prior to the entombment of the body and the brain inside the pyroclastic material, because glass cannot form during the slow cooling of a pyroclastic deposit.

We therefore infer that within the experimental range of our measured Tf (420-510 °C), the upper bound at 510 °C is the closest to the natural Tf, while 420 °C, which is comparable or lower than the temperature of the embedding deposits, is very unlikely, if not impossible.

This would suggest a very fast process of cooling to vitrify the brain at rates comparable with our experiments at 1000 K s − 1. Such fast cooling rates may imply that the brain, while not entirely destroyed during the heating, was likely severely damaged and disaggregated in small sub-centimetric pieces - as they have been found - favouring the heat exchange during cooling. Thus, the only possible scenario for such a process in the context of the 79 CE Vesuvius eruption is that of a short-lived transient passage of a detached very dilute ash cloud surge with internal temperature well above 510 °C9,48. Possibly, the protection by the direct contact with the hot ash cloud given by the thick bones of the skull and spine of the guardian may have helped to prevent complete devolatilization of the brain tissue and the vetrification of the survived parts during rapid cooling. Complete devolatilization affected instead the external soft tissues in both the victims from the city and those discovered in the suburban area, on the beach and in a series of boat-chambers facing the sea49.

Therefore, we reconstruct a scenario where a fast, very hot ash cloud was the first deadly event during the 79CE Vesuvius eruption, enveloping victims, including the guardian who was subject to the specific conditions for heating the brain at temperatures well above 510 °C without the (total) destruction of the cerebral tissue. As the ash cloud dissipated (comparison with observed modern ash clouds suggest on order of minutes), the temperature immediately returned to ambient conditions, inducing cooling at rates comparable with our experimental 1000 K s − 1 that are very reasonable for cooling upon thermal gradients of several hundred of degrees50. The deposit of this early ash cloud surge is present as just few centimeters of ash on ground22 so the bodies were left virtually in open air. The brain then turned into glass during the fast cooling at glass transition temperature close to 510 °C. Later, in agreement with witness accounts and deposit stratigraphy9,22,23, Herculaneum was progressively buried by thick pyroclastic flow deposits, but at lower temperatures9,31,32,33, so that the unique presence of a vitrified brain could have been preserved until today.

In conclusion, the brain tissue studied here is the only known case of preserved vitrification of human tissue as a result of cooling after heating to very high temperatures. This is the only way by which such a glass type can be preserved in the geological or archaeological record and explains why this is a unique occurrence and preserves the ultra-fine neural structure of the brain7.

Methods

The material characterization. included micro-imaging, determination of density, porosity and chemical composition. All necessary permits were obtained for the study of the human specimen from the Ethics Committee for Biomedical Activities, AOU Federico II, Naples, Italy, Protocol N. 101/17. Four un-coated samples (samples C1, C2b, C102 and C117; Table 1) were imaged by a Zeiss Sigma 300 Field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM (Department of Science, University of Roma Tre), at variable operating conditions (e.g., accelerating voltage, as indicated on each image). The densities of samples C1 and C7 were measured by hydrostatic balance (Department of Science, University of Roma Tre). A 3D microtomographic imaging of sample C1 (Table 1) has been acquired by Nikon XT H 225 ST Tomograph, equipped with a Perkin Elmer 1620 (by Remet s.a.s). The chemical composition has been determined by energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). Elemental analyses were performed on a Quantax EDS System, equipped with an XFlash energy-dispersive X-ray detector (Department of Science, University of Roma Tre). EDS operated at acceleration voltages of 15 kV for the measurements. EDS analysis was acquired using a 16 µs dwell time per pixel. The EDS spectra were analysed with ESPRIT 2 software. Raman spectroscopy was performed using a Jobin Yvon micro-Raman LabRam system (Department of Science, University of Roma Tre). A neodymium-yttrium-aluminum-garnet (Nd:YAG) laser at 532 nm (green laser) was used in a backscattering geometry using a 600 grooves mm - 1 spectrometer grating and Charge Coupled Device (CCD) photon detector. Spectra were collected at 700-2300 cm - 1 (first order Raman spectrum) on a 5 µm diameter spot, with a 50X optical objective.

The samples were subjected to differential scanning calorimetry analysis (DSC) which involved the investigation of endothermic and exothermic events during the heating and cooling processes of samples C1 and C7. Two types of calorimetry techniques, conventional (C)-DSC and flash (F)-DSC, were employed for this study. Initially, two samples underwent high-temperature treatments at relatively slow rates of heating and cooling using the C-DSC apparatus (Netzsch Pegasus, Department of Science, University of Roma Tre). C-DSC measurements were conducted under N2 5.0 atmosphere (flow rate 30 ml min - 1). The temperature calibration was performed up to ~ 1050°C using the melting points of reference materials (In, Sn, Bi, Zn, Al, Ag, and Au). Baseline measurements were conducted with two empty Pt crucibles. C-DSC samples experienced heating and cooling rates of 25 K min - 1. Specifically, the C7 sample (20 mg) underwent a single heating/cooling cycle with a maximum temperature (T max) of 620°C. One fragment of the sample C1 (20 mg) underwent four heating/cooling cycles with T max values first at 520°C, then repetated at 520°C, and then increased to 620°C and 670°C. Post-treatment, the samples were analysed using FE-SEM, EDS, and Raman techniques, utilizing the same instruments and settings as previously described. Additionally, the F-DSC (Clausthal University of Technology) was employed to explore much faster heating and cooling rates for fragments from the same sample C1 studied by C-DSC. We used the UFH1 sensor (operating up to 1,000°C and cooling/heating rated of 30,000 K s - 1). Before measuring, the sensor underwent a two-step thermal treatment following the manufacturer's protocols: (1) a conditioning program to remove thermal history, and (2) a thermocouple correction program. F-DSC temperature calibration was performed using the melting temperature of aluminum (Tm = 660.4°C) and indium (Tm = 156.6°C). Two cycles of heating and two cycles of cooling were conducted on sample C1. The procedure involved an initial heating cycle at 1000 K s - 1, followed by a downscan at the same rate of 1000 K s - 1.

References

1. Knoche, R., Dingwell, D. B., Seifert, F. A. & Webb, S. L. Non-linear properties of supercooled liquids in the system Na ₂O-SiO ₂. Chem. Geol. 116 (1-2), 1-16 (1994).

2. Scarani, A. et al. Timescale of emplacement and rheomorphism of the Green Tuff Ignimbrite (Pantelleria, Italy). J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 128(7), (2023). e2022JB026257.

3. Han, Z. et al. Vitrification and nanowarming enable long-term organ cryopreservation and life-sustaining kidney transplantation in a rat model. Nat. Commun. 14, 3407. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38824-8 (2023).

Article ADS CAS PubMed PubMed Central MATH Google Scholar

4. Sigurdsson, H., Carey, S., Cornell, W. & Pescatore, T. The eruption of Vesuvius in AD 79. Natl. Geogr. Res. 1, 3 (1985). https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/gsofacpubs/1114

Google Scholar

5. Giacomelli, L., Perrotta, A., Scandone, R. & Scarpati, C. The eruption of Vesuvius of 79 AD and its impact on human environment in Pompeii. Episodes J. Int. Geosci.. 26 (3), 235-238 (2003).

Google Scholar

6. Morton-Hayward, A. L., Anderson, R. P., Saupe, E. E., Larson, G. & Cosmidis, J. G. Human brains preserve in diverse environments for at least 12 000 years. Proc. R. Soc. B, 291 20232606 (2024). (2019).

7. De Carolis, E., Patricelli, G. & Raimondi Cominesi, A. Rinvenimenti Di Corpi Umani Nel Suburbio Pompeiano E Nei Siti Di Ercolano E Stabia. Riv Studi Pompeiani. 24, 11-32 (2013).

Google Scholar

8. Cioni, R., Gurioli, L., Lanza, R. & Zanella, E. Temperatures of the AD 79 pyroclastic density current deposits (Vesuvius, Italy). J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 109(B2) (2004).

9. Schito, A., Romano, C., Corrado, S., Grigo, D. & Poe, B. Diagenetic thermal evolution of organic matter by Raman spectroscopy. Org. Geochem. 106, 57-67. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.orggeochem.2016.12.006 (2017).

10. Schito, A. et al. Calibrating carbonization temperatures of wood fragments embedded within pyroclastic density currents through Raman Spectroscopy. Minerals 12 (2), 203. https://doi.org/10.3390/min12020203 (2022).

11. Stabile, P. et al. The effect of iron and alkali on the nanocrystal-free viscosity of volcanic melts: A combined Raman spectroscopy and DSC study. Chem. Geol. 559, 119991. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chemgeo.2020.119991 (2021).

12. Mastrolorenzo, G., Petrone, P., Pappalardo, L. & Guarino, F. M. Lethal thermal impact at periphery of pyroclastic surges: Evidences at Pompeii. PLoS ONE, 5(6), e11127 (2010).

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Dr. Francesco Sirano, director of the Herculaneum Archaeological Park, for allowing the study of the human biological samples used in this manuscript (Permit number "Parco Archeologico di Ercolano MIBAC-PA-ERCO, MBAC-PA-ERCO 0003371 13/09/2018, CI. 16.19. 40/1"). All necessary permits were obtained for the study of the human specimen from the Ethics Committee for Biomedical Activities, AOU Federico II, Naples, Italy, Protocol N. 101/17. G.G. acknowledges the grant to the Department of Science, Roma Tre University (MIUR-Italy Dipartimenti di Eccellenza, Art. 1, Comm. 314-337, L. 232/2016). D. Di Genova acknowledges the funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme (NANOVOLC, ERC Consolidator Grant - No. 101044772). D. Di Genova acknowledges the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) project DI 2751/2-1. D. Di Genova acknowledges funding from the European Union's - Next Generation EU, Missione 4 Componente 1 CUP B53D23007230006. The authors also acknowledge an anonymous reviewer and C. D'Oriano for their constructive comments.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

1. Dipartimento di Scienze, Università Roma Tre, Largo San Leonardo Murialdo 1, Roma, 00146, Italy

Guido Giordano, Alessandra Pensa, Alessandro Vona, Claudia Romano & Alessandro Frontoni

2. Istituto Superiore per la Protezione e la Ricerca Ambientale, Via Vitaliano Brancati 48, Roma, 00144, Italy

Alessandra Pensa

3. Technische Universität Clausthal, Adolph-Roemer-Straße 2A, 38678, Clausthal-Zellerfeld, Germany

Danilo Di Genova, Raschid Al-Mukadam & Joachim Deubener

4. CNR-ISSMC Istituto di Scienza, Tecnologia e Sostenibilitá per lo sviluppo dei Materiali Ceramici, Via Granarolo, 64, 48018, Faenza, RA, Italy

Danilo Di Genova

5. Dipartimento di Scienze Biomediche Avanzate, Università di Napoli Federico II, Naples, Italy

PierPaolo Petrone

Contributions

G.G and P.P.P conceived and designed the study; A.P., A.V., A.F., G.G. performed analyses for material characterization; A.P., A.V., G.G. performed C-DSC analyses; D.D.G., R.A-M, J.D. performed F-DSC analyses; A.P., C.R., A.V., A.F. performed Raman analyses. All authors discussed the results and contributed to the writing and commented on the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guido Giordano.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License, which permits any non-commercial use, sharing, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if you modified the licensed material. You do not have permission under this licence to share adapted material derived from this article or parts of it. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/.
Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Giordano, G., Pensa, A., Vona, A. et al. Unique formation of organic glass from a human brain in the Vesuvius eruption of 79 CE. Sci Rep 15, 5955 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88894-5
Download citation

Received:

Accepted:

Published:

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-88894-5

Get shareable link

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Unique formation of organic glass from a human brain in the Vesuvius eruption of 79 CE - Scientific Reports

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Glass forms when a liquid is fast cooled preventing crystallization, across a reversible process known as the glass transition. Organic tissues are commonly preserved as glass by processes of vitrification at very low temperatures, known as cryopreservation, and can return to their original soft state when heated back to ambient temperature.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
" This is the first time Turrell has mixed water with his light-inspired work. He has designed water and light projects for a Napa Valley winery and a private home in San Diego, but they were never built.

Heavy Water is a white wood and sheetrock structure that took local craftsmen and sponsors three months to build under Turrell's specifications. "Turrell is as much an engineer as he is an artist," says Frederic Migayrou, a French art critic who is working on a catalogue raisonne of the artist's work. Turrell may have been influenced by his French father, who also was an engineer."

- Excerpt from the article written by Hector Feliciano, 'Taking the Plunge Into a Batch of Heavy Water', Los Angeles Times, June 06, 1991.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
James Turrell - Heavy Water - Almine Rech

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Admire the wonderful James Turrell - Heavy Water exhibition at the Almine Rech gallery. Discover the universe of our recognized artists.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Lynn Chadwick Winged Figures, 1955 Bronze height 22 1/2 in height 57 cm Edition of 6

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Bronze casting dominated Chadwick's working process. These works possess a supernatural vibrancy, strikingly expressed with thin spiny rods, nodes of melted metal and rib meshes of animalistic and unworldly anatomies. Beasts, birds and humanoids, some coupled, all charged with a vital and ethereal energy.

Chadwick's devoted practice as a 'conduit', meant he worked without a preconceived idea of how each sculpture would evolve. By welding together metal rods, he created working models 'drawing' multifaceted structures and filling the voids and planes with stolit, a composite of plaster and iron filings. It created a highly textural surface surface akin to organic matter.

It was essential that every cast was faithful to the working model in attitude, texture and scale. The bronze was then painted black or patinated to replicate the tones of Stolit. Chadwick felt colour was a distraction and would only introduce a polished surface to a sculpture to emphasise shape or effect a contrast.

Each limited edition cast is taken directly from its working model and made to Chadwick's specifications at his foundry, Pangolin Editions who have worked closely with him since 1982.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Two Dancing Figures IlI, 1954 , Two Figures, 1954 , The Stranger, 1954 , Sun, 1955 1956 1958 , Beast, 1955 , Dance III, 1955 , Winged Figures, 1955 , Teddy Boy and Girl (Second Version), 1955 , Dancing Figures (Two Dancing Figures), 1956 , Beast VII, 1956 , Beast...

# data[].attributes.headline
And Essay on Abjection - POWERS OF HORROR 

# data[].attributes.subject
And Essay on Abjection - POWERS OF HORROR 

# data[].attributes.body
Ecclesiastes 1:2
Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher, vanity of vanities! All is vanity.

Ecclesiastes 2:11
Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.

Ecclesiastes 2:17
So I hated life, because what is done under the sun was grievous to me, for all is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 2:26
For to the one who pleases him God has given wisdom and knowledge and joy, but to the sinner he has given the business of gathering and collecting, only to give to one who pleases God. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 4:4
Then I saw that all toil and all skill in work come from a man’s envy of his neighbor. This also is vanity and a striving after wind.

Ecclesiastes 6:9
Better is the sight of the eyes than the wandering of the appetite: this also is vanity and a striving after wind.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The Bardo Thodol ( Tibetan: བར་དོ་ཐོས་གྲོལ, Wylie: bar do thos grol, "Liberation Through Hearing During the Intermediate State") is a text from a larger corpus of teachings, the Profound Dharma of Self-Liberation through the Intention of the Peaceful and Wrathful Ones, revealed by Karma Lingpa (1326-1386).

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Memoirs of the Blind: The Self-Portrait and Other Ruins

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Read 17 reviews from the world's largest community for readers. In this brilliant essay, Jacques Derrida explores issues of vision, blindness, self-represe...

# data[].attributes.headline
Ecclesiastes 1:1414 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind

# data[].attributes.subject
Ecclesiastes 1:1414 I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Introduction The word “goel” is defined in Strong’s Hebrew Lexicon as kinsman.[1] However, in ancient Jewish life, the term took on significant additional meaning. The Jewish Encyclopedia states th…

# data[].attributes.body
African-american Woman that the HeLa cell line derives from

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant; August 1, 1920 - October 4, 1951) was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research. An immortalized cell line reproduces indefinitely under specific conditions, and the HeLa cell line continues to be a source of invaluable medical data to the present day.

Lacks was the unwitting source of these cells from a tumor biopsied during treatment for cervical cancer at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, in 1951. These cells were then cultured by George Otto Gey, who created the cell line known as HeLa, which is still used for medical research. As was then the practice, no consent was required to culture the cells obtained from Lacks's treatment. Neither she nor her family were compensated for the extraction or use of the HeLa cells.

Even though some information about the origins of HeLa's immortalized cell lines was known to researchers after 1970, the Lacks family was not made aware of the line's existence until 1975. With knowledge of the cell line's genetic provenance becoming public, its use for medical research and for commercial purposes continues to raise concerns about privacy and patients' rights.

Henrietta Lacks was born Loretta Pleasant on August 1, 1920, in Roanoke, Virginia, to Eliza Pleasant (née Lacks) (1886-1924) and John "Johnny" Randall Pleasant (1881-1969). She is remembered as having hazel eyes, a small waist, size 6 shoes, and always wearing red nail polish and a neatly pleated skirt. Her family is uncertain how her name changed from Loretta to Henrietta, but she was nicknamed Hennie. When Lacks was four years old in 1924, her mother died giving birth to her tenth child. Unable to care for the children alone after his wife's death, Lacks's father moved the family to Clover, Virginia, where the children were distributed among relatives. Lacks ended up with her maternal grandfather, Thomas "Tommy" Henry Lacks, in a two-story log cabin that was once the slave quarters on the plantation that had been owned by Henrietta's white great-grandfather and great-uncle. She shared a room with her nine-year-old first cousin and future husband, David "Day" Lacks (1915-2002).

Like most members of her family living in Clover, Lacks worked as a tobacco farmer starting from an early age. She fed the animals, tended the garden, and toiled in the tobacco fields. She attended the designated black school two miles away from the cabin until she had to drop out to help support the family when she was in the sixth grade. In 1935, when Lacks was 14 years old, she gave birth to a son, Lawrence Lacks. In 1939, her daughter Elsie Lacks (1939-1955) was born. Both children were fathered by Day Lacks. Elsie had epilepsy and cerebral palsy and was described by the family as "different" or "deaf and dumb".

On April 10, 1941, David "Day" Lacks and Henrietta Lacks were married in Halifax County, Virginia. Later that year, their cousin, Fred Garrett, convinced the couple to leave the tobacco farm in Virginia and move to Turner Station, near Dundalk, Maryland, in Baltimore County, so Day could work in Bethlehem Steel at Sparrows Point, Maryland. Not long after they moved to Maryland, Garrett was called to fight in World War II. With the savings gifted to him by Garrett, Day Lacks was able to purchase a house at 713 New Pittsburgh Avenue in Turner Station. Now part of Dundalk, Turner Station was one of the oldest and largest African-American communities in Baltimore County at that time.

Living in Maryland, Henrietta and Day Lacks had three more children: David "Sonny" Lacks Jr. in 1947, Deborah Lacks (later known as Deborah Lacks Pullum) in 1949 (died 2009), and Joseph Lacks (later known as Zakariyya Bari Abdul Rahman after converting to Islam) in 1950. Henrietta gave birth to her last child at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore in November 1950, four and a half months before she was diagnosed with cervical cancer. Zakariyya believes his birth to be a miracle as he was "fighting off the cancer cells growing all around him". Around the same time, Elsie was placed in the Hospital for the Negro Insane, later renamed Crownsville Hospital Center, where she died in 1955 at 15 years of age. Historian Paul Lurz says that it is possible that Elsie was subjected to the pneumoencephalography procedure, where a hole was drilled into a patient's head to drain fluid from the brain, which was then replaced with oxygen or helium to make it easier to see the patient's brain in X-rays.

Both Lacks and her husband were Catholic.

Diagnosis and treatment

On January 29, 1951, Lacks went to Johns Hopkins, the only hospital in the area that treated black patients, because she felt a "knot" in her womb. She had previously told her cousins about the "knot" and they assumed correctly that she was pregnant. But after giving birth to Joseph, Lacks had a severe hemorrhage. Her primary care doctor, William C. Wade, referred her back to Johns Hopkins. There, her doctor, Howard W. Jones, took a biopsy of a mass found on Lacks's cervix for laboratory testing. Soon after, Lacks was told that she had a malignant epidermoid carcinoma of the cervix. In 1970, physicians discovered that she had been misdiagnosed and actually had an adenocarcinoma. This was a common mistake at the time, and the treatment would not have differed.

Lacks was treated with radium tube inserts as an inpatient and discharged a few days later with instructions to return for X-ray treatments as a follow-up. During her treatments, two samples were taken from Lacks's cervix without her permission or knowledge; one sample was of healthy tissue and the other was cancerous. These samples were given to George Otto Gey, a physician and cancer researcher at Johns Hopkins. The cells from the cancerous sample eventually became known as the HeLa immortal cell line, a commonly used cell line in contemporary biomedical research.

On August 8, 1951, Lacks, who was 31 years old, went to Johns Hopkins for a routine treatment session and asked to be admitted due to continued severe abdominal pain. She received blood transfusions and remained at the hospital until her death on October 4, 1951. A partial autopsy showed that the cancer had metastasized throughout her entire body.

Lacks Town Road in Clover, Virginia, near where Lacks grew up and is buried

Lacks was buried in an unmarked grave in the family cemetery, in a section of Clover, Virginia, called Lackstown. Lacks's exact burial location is unknown, but the family believes that it is within a few feet of her mother's gravesite, which for decades was the only one in the family to have been marked with a tombstone. In 2010, Roland Pattillo, a faculty member of the Morehouse School of Medicine who had worked with George Gey and knew the Lacks family, donated a headstone for Lacks. This prompted her family to raise money for a headstone for Elsie Lacks as well, which was dedicated on the same day. The book-shaped headstone of Henrietta Lacks contains an epitaph written by her grandchildren that reads:

Henrietta Lacks, August 1, 1920 - October 4, 1951
In loving memory of a phenomenal woman,
wife and mother who touched the lives of many.
Here lies Henrietta Lacks (HeLa). Her immortal
cells will continue to help mankind forever.
Eternal Love and Admiration, From Your Family

Dividing HeLa cells in culture. The cells can be seen metaphase and telophase, different stages of cell division.

George Otto Gey, the first researcher to study Lacks's cancerous cells, observed that these cells were unusual in that they reproduced at a very high rate and could be kept alive long enough to allow more in-depth examination. Until then, cells cultured for laboratory studies survived for only a few days at most, which was not long enough to perform a variety of different tests on the same sample. Lacks's cells were the first to be observed that could be divided multiple times without dying, which is why they became known as "immortal". After Lacks's death, Gey had Mary Kubicek, his lab assistant, take further HeLa samples while Henrietta's body was at Johns Hopkins' autopsy facility. The roller-tube technique was the method used to culture the cells obtained from the samples that Kubicek collected. Gey was able to start a cell line from Lacks's sample by isolating one specific cell and repeatedly dividing it, meaning that the same cell could then be used for conducting many experiments. They became known as HeLa cells, because Gey's standard method for labeling samples was to use the first two letters of the patient's first and last names.

The ability to rapidly reproduce HeLa cells in a laboratory setting has led to many important breakthroughs in biomedical research. For example, by 1954, Jonas Salk was using HeLa cells in his research to develop the polio vaccine. To test his new vaccine, the cells were mass-produced in the first-ever cell production factory. Additionally, Chester M. Southam, a leading virologist, injected HeLa cells into cancer patients, prison inmates, and healthy individuals in order to observe whether cancer could be transmitted as well as to examine if one could become immune to cancer by developing an acquired immune response.

HeLa cells were in high demand and put into mass production. They were mailed to scientists around the globe for "research into cancer, AIDS, the effects of radiation and toxic substances, gene mapping, and countless other scientific pursuits". HeLa cells were the first human cells successfully cloned, in 1955, and have since been used to test human sensitivity to tape, glue, cosmetics, and many other products. There are almost 11,000 patents involving HeLa cells.

In the early 1970s, a large portion of other cell cultures became contaminated by HeLa cells. As a result, members of Henrietta Lacks's family received solicitations for blood samples from researchers hoping to learn about the family's genetics in order to differentiate between HeLa cells and other cell lines.

Alarmed and confused, several family members began questioning why they were receiving so many telephone calls requesting blood samples. In 1975, the family also learned through a chance dinner-party conversation that material originating in Henrietta Lacks was continuing to be used for medical research. Prior to this, the family had never discussed Henrietta's illness and death among themselves.

Neither Henrietta Lacks nor her family had given her physicians permission to harvest her cells. At that time, permission was neither required nor customarily sought. The cells were used in medical research and for commercial purposes. In the 1980s, family medical records were published without family consent. A similar issue was brought up in the Supreme Court of California case of Moore v. Regents of the University of California in 1990. The court ruled that a person's discarded tissue and cells are not their property and can be commercialized.

In March 2013, researchers published the DNA sequence of the genome of a strain of HeLa cells. The Lacks family discovered this when the author Rebecca Skloot informed them. There were objections from the Lacks family about the genetic information that was available for public access. Jeri Lacks Whye, a grandchild of Henrietta Lacks, said to The New York Times, "the biggest concern was privacy-what information was actually going to be out there about our grandmother, and what information they can obtain from her sequencing that will tell them about her children and grandchildren and going down the line." That same year another group working on a different HeLa cell line's genome under National Institutes of Health (NIH) funding, submitted it for publication. In August 2013, an agreement was announced between the family and the NIH that gave the family some control over access to the cells' DNA sequence found in the two studies along with a promise of acknowledgement in scientific papers. In addition, two family members will join the six-member committee that will regulate access to the sequence data.

In October 2021, Lacks's estate filed a lawsuit against Thermo Fisher Scientific for profiting from the HeLa cell line without Lacks's consent, asking for "the full amount of [Thermo Fisher's] net profits". On July 31, 2023, Thermo Fisher Scientific settled with the Lacks family on undisclosed terms.

A historical marker memorializing Henrietta Lacks in Clover, Virginia

A park named in honor of Henrietta Lacks in Baltimore, Maryland

In 1996, Morehouse School of Medicine held its first annual HeLa Women's Health Conference. Led by physician Roland Pattillo, the conference is held to give recognition to Henrietta Lacks, her cell line, and "the valuable contribution made by African Americans to medical research and clinical practice". The mayor of Atlanta declared the date of the first conference, October 11, 1996, "Henrietta Lacks Day".

Lacks's contributions continue to be celebrated at yearly events in Turner Station. At one such event in 1997, then-U.S. Congressman from Maryland, Robert Ehrlich, presented a congressional resolution recognizing Lacks and her contributions to medical science and research.

In 2010, the Johns Hopkins Institute for Clinical and Translational Research established the annual Henrietta Lacks Memorial Lecture Series, to honor Henrietta Lacks and the global impact of HeLa cells on medicine and research.

In 2011, Morgan State University in Baltimore granted Lacks a posthumous honorary doctorate in public service. Also in 2011, the Evergreen School District in Vancouver, Washington, named their new high school focused on medical careers the Henrietta Lacks Health and Bioscience High School, becoming the first organization to memorialize her publicly by naming a school in her honor.

In 2014, Lacks was inducted into the Maryland Women's Hall of Fame. In 2017, a minor planet in the main asteroid belt was named " 359426 Lacks" in her honor.

In 2018, The New York Times published a belated obituary for her, as part of the Overlooked history project. Also in 2018, the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of African-American History and Culture jointly announced the accession of a portrait of Lacks by Kadir Nelson.

On October 6, 2018, Johns Hopkins University announced plans to name a research building in honor of Lacks. The announcement was made at the 9th annual Henrietta Lacks Memorial Lecture in the Turner Auditorium in East Baltimore by Johns Hopkins University President Ronald J. Daniels and Paul B. Rothman, CEO of Johns Hopkins Medicine and dean of the medical faculty of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, surrounded by several of Lacks's descendants. "Through her life and her immortal cells, Henrietta Lacks made an immeasurable impact on science and medicine that has touched countless lives around the world," Daniels said. "This building will stand as a testament to her transformative impact on scientific discovery and the ethics that must undergird its pursuit. We at Johns Hopkins are profoundly grateful to the Lacks family for their partnership as we continue to learn from Mrs. Lacks's life and to honor her enduring legacy." The building will adjoin the Berman Institute of Bioethics' Deering Hall, located at the corner of Ashland and Rutland Avenues and "will support programs that enhance participation and partnership with members of the community in research that can benefit the community, as well as extend the opportunities to further study and promote research ethics and community engagement in research through an expansion of the Berman Institute and its work."

Henrietta Lacks statue, Bristol

In 2020, Lacks was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.

In 2021, the Henrietta Lacks Enhancing Cancer Research Act of 2019 became law; it states the Government Accountability Office must complete a study about barriers to participation that exist in cancer clinical trials that are federally funded for populations that have been underrepresented in such trials.

In October 2021, the University of Bristol unveiled a statue of Lacks at Royal Fort House in the city. The sculpture was created by Helen Wilson-Roe and was the first statue of a black woman made by a black woman for a public space in the United Kingdom.

On October 13, 2021, the World Health Organization (WHO) presented the Director General Award to Lawrence Lacks, the son of Henrietta Lacks, in recognition of her unknowing contribution to science and medicine. Soumya Swaminathan, chief scientist at the WHO, said: "I cannot think of any other single cell line or lab reagent that's been used to this extent and has resulted in so many advances."

On March 15, 2022, United States Rep. Kwesi Mfume (D-Md) filed legislation to posthumously award the Congressional Gold Medal to Henrietta Lacks for her distinguished contributions to science. The award is one of the most prestigious civilian honors given by the United States government.

On December 19, 2022, it was announced that a bronze statue honoring Henrietta Lacks would be erected in Roanoke, Virginia's Henrietta Lacks Plaza, previously named Lee Plaza after Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee. A statue of Lee was removed from the site in the wake of the protests following the murder of George Floyd. The Lacks statue was unveiled on October 4, 2023.

On June 13, 2023, Loudoun County Public Schools Board members approved the name of the new school, Henrietta Lacks Elementary School, in Aldie, Virginia. The school will serve 960 students from kindergarten through 2nd grade and is expected to open in August 2024.

The question of how and whether her race affected her treatment, the lack of obtaining consent, and her relative obscurity, continues to be controversial.

The HeLa cell line's connection to Henrietta Lacks was first brought to popular attention in March 1976 with a pair of articles in the Detroit Free Press and Rolling Stone written by reporter Michael Rogers. In 1998, Adam Curtis directed a BBC documentary about Henrietta Lacks called The Way of All Flesh.

Rebecca Skloot documented extensive histories of both the HeLa cell line and the Lacks family in two articles published in 2000 and 2001 and in her 2010 book The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. Skloot worked with Deborah Lacks, who was determined to learn more about her mother, on the book. She used her first royalty check from the book to start the Henrietta Lacks Foundation, which has provided funds like college tuition and medical procedures for Henrietta's family.

HBO announced in 2010 that Oprah Winfrey and Alan Ball were developing a film project based on Skloot's book, and in 2016 filming commenced. with Winfrey in the leading role of Deborah Lacks, Henrietta's daughter. The film The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks was released in 2017, with Renée Elise Goldsberry portraying Lacks. Sons David Lacks Jr. and Zakariyya Rahman and granddaughter Jeri Lacks were consultants for the film.

HBO also commissioned Kadir Nelson for an oil painting of Lacks. In 2018, the portrait was jointly acquired by the National Museum of African American History and Culture and the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery. The wallpaper in the painting is made up of the "Flower of Life" alluding to the immortality of her cells. The flowers on her dress resemble images of cell structures, and the two missing buttons on her dress symbolize her cells taken without permission.

NBC's aired its own fictionalized version of Lacks's story in the 2010 episode "Immortal", which referred to as "shockingly close to the true story" and the musical groups Jello Biafra and the Guantanamo School of Medicine and Yeasayer both released songs about Henrietta Lacks and her legacy.

Members of the Lacks family authored their own stories for the first time in 2013, when Lacks's oldest son and his wife, Lawrence and Bobbette Lacks, wrote a short digital memoir called "Hela Family Stories: Lawrence and Bobbette", with first-hand accounts of their memories of Henrietta Lacks while she was alive and of their own efforts to keep the youngest children out of unsafe living environments following their mother's death.

The HeLa Project, a multimedia exhibition to honor Lacks, opened in 2017 in Baltimore at the Reginald F. Lewis Museum of Maryland African American History & Culture. It included a portrait by Kadir Nelson and a poem by Saul Williams.

HeLa, a play by Chicago playwright J. Nicole Brooks, was commissioned by Sideshow Theatre Company in 2016, with a public staged reading on July 31, 2017. The play was produced by Sideshow at Chicago's Greenhouse Theater Center from November 18 to December 23, 2018. The play uses Lacks's life story as a jumping point for a larger conversation about Afrofuturism, scientific progress, and bodily autonomy.

In the series El Ministerio del Tiempo, the immortality of her cells in the lab is cited as the precedent for the character Arteche's "extreme resistance to infections, to injuries, and to cellular degeneration. In other words to aging": that his cells are immortal.

In the Netflix original movie Project Power (2020), the case of Henrietta Lacks is cited by one of the villains of the story as an example of unwilling trials giving rise to advances for the greater good.

The JJ Doom album Key to the Kuffs (2012) includes the song "Winter Blues" that contains the lyrics "We could live forever like Henrietta Lacks cells".

Yeasayer wrote a song about Lacks, entitled "Henrietta," for their 2012 album Fragrant World.

1. ^ "Turner's Station African American Survey District, Dundalk, Baltimore County 1900-1950" (PDF). Baltimore County.

2. ^ "Baltimore county architectural survey African American Thematic Study" (PDF). Baltimore County Office of Planning and The Landmarks Preservation Commission.

3. ^ "Biography of Mrs. Henrietta Lacks". Henrietta Lacks Legacy Group. Mrs. Lacks' story is not complete without a history of Turner Station (where she resided at the time of her death), Dr. William C. Wade (her African American primary care physician), ...

4. ^ Taylor, Alexis (October 9, 2013). "Henrietta Lacks Honored with Plaque". Afro News. Henrietta Lacks was only 30 years old when her primary care doctor, William C. Wade, sent her to Johns Hopkins University Hospital to treat a mysterious ailment wreaking havoc on her body.

5. ^ Skloot, Rebecca (March 2001). "An Obsession With Culture". PITT Magazine. University of Pittsburgh. Archived from the original on September 24, 2018. By 1950, when Henrietta Lacks walked into Hopkins Hospital complaining of abnormal bleeding, George and Margaret Gey had spent almost thirty years trying to establish an immortal human cell line. ...

6. ^ Gold, Michael (1986). A Conspiracy of Cells: One Woman's Immortal Legacy-And the Medical Scandal It Caused. SUNY Press. p. 20.

7. ^ Lucey, Brendan P.; Nelson-Rees, Walter A.; Hutchins, Grover M. (September 1, 2009). "Henrietta Lacks, HeLa Cells, and Cell Culture Contamination". Archives of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine. 133 (9): 1463-1467. doi:10.5858/133.9.1463. ISSN 0003-9985. PMID 19722756.

8. ^ Puck TT, Marcus PI. "A Rapid Method for Viable Cell Titration and Clone Production With Hela Cells In Tissue Culture: The Use of X-Irradiated Cells to Supply Conditioning Factors". ^ Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1955 July 15;41(7):432-7. URL: PNASJSTOR.

9. ^ Schwab, Abraham P.; Baily, Mary Ann; Hirschhorn, Kurt; Rhodes, Rosamond; Trusko, Brett (August 15, 2013). Rhodes, Rosamond; Gligorov, Nada; Schwab, Abraham Paul (eds.). The Human Microbiome: Ethical, Legal and Social Concerns. Oxford University Press. pp. 98-99. ISBN 978-0-19-982942-2. In 1973, researchers at Johns Hopkins contacted Lacks family members and asked them to provide blood samples.

10. ^ Davies, Emily (October 4, 2021). "Legal Issues: 70 years ago, Henrietta Lacks's cells were taken without consent. Now, her family wants justice". Washington Post.

11. ^ Brennan, Zachary (October 4, 2021). "Estate of Henrietta Lacks sues Thermo Fisher over the improper sale of her immortal cells". Endpoints.

12. ^ Romine, Taylor (October 5, 2021). "Estate of Henrietta Lacks sues biotechnical company for nonconsensual use of her cells". CNN.

13. ^ Pattillo, MD, Roland A.; Roland Matthews, MA (Spring 2006). "Tenth Annual HeLa Women's Health Conference: An Overview and Historical Perspective" (PDF). Journal of Ethnicity and Disease. International Society on Hypertension in Blacks.

14. ^ "National Women's Hall of Fame Virtual Induction Series Inaugural Event December 10, 2020" (PDF). November 11, 2020.

15. ^ Lynch, Holly Fernandez; Joffe, Steven (April 21, 2017). "A Lesson From the Henrietta Lacks Story: Science Needs Your Cells". The New York Times.

16. ^ Skloot, Rebecca (November 17, 2001). "Cells That Save Lives are a Mother's Legacy". The New York Times.

17. ^ Stanhope, Kate (May 2, 2016). "Oprah Winfrey to Star in HBO Films' 'The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks'". The Hollywood Reporter.

18. ^ Thomas, June (May 19, 2010). "Ripped From Which Headline? "Immortal"". . Archived from the original on August 18, 2011.

19. ^ ""The HeLa Project" Exhibition Travels to NY, ATL to Honor Mortal Life of Henrietta Lacks Before Premiere of HBO Film". Good Black News. 2017.

20. ^ Ellis, Emma Grey (August 13, 2020). "'Project Power' Is a Secret Lesson About Science's Dark Side". Wired.

Curtis, Adam, Modern Times: The Way of All Flesh (1997) Full documentary Film via YouTube

The Henrietta Lacks Foundation, a foundation established to, among other things, help provide scholarship funds and health insurance to Henrietta Lacks's family.

"Henrietta's Tumor", RadioLab segment featuring Deborah Lacks and audio of Skloot's interviews with her, and original recordings of scenes from the book.

"The Immortal Henrietta Lacks", February 2010 CBS Sunday Morning segment featuring the Lacks Family, February 2010

"Henrietta Everlasting: 1950s Cells Still Alive, Helping Science", Wired Magazine 2010 article with timeline of HeLa contributions to science

E. Fannie Granton and Ronald E. Kisner, "Family Talks about Dead Mother Whose Cells fight Cancer", Jet Magazine (Vol. 50, No. 2), April 1, 1976

"25 Years after Death, Black Mother's Cells Live for Cancer Study", Jet Magazine, April 1, 1976

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Henrietta Lacks (born Loretta Pleasant; August 1, 1920 - October 4, 1951) was an African-American woman whose cancer cells are the source of the HeLa cell line, the first immortalized human cell line and one of the most important cell lines in medical research.

# data[].attributes.body
HeLa cell line

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism that would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cells can therefore be grown for prolonged periods . The mutations required for immortality can occur naturally or be intentionally induced for experimental purposes. Immortal cell lines are a very important tool for research into the biochemistry and cell biology of multicellular organisms. Immortalised cell lines have also found uses in biotechnology.

An immortalised cell line should not be confused with stem cells, which can also divide indefinitely, but form a normal part of the development of a multicellular organism.

There are various immortal cell lines. Some of them are normal cell lines (e.g. derived from stem cells). Other immortalised cell lines are the equivalent of cancerous cells. Cancer occurs when a somatic cell that normally cannot divide undergoes mutations that cause deregulation of the normal cell cycle controls, leading to uncontrolled proliferation. Immortalised cell lines have undergone similar mutations, allowing a cell type that would normally not be able to divide to be proliferated in vitro. The origins of some immortal cell lines - for example, HeLa human cells - are from naturally occurring cancers. HeLa, the first immortal human cell line on record to be successfully isolated and proliferated by a laboratory, was taken from Henrietta Lacks in 1951 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.

Immortalised cell lines are widely used as a simple model for more complex biological systems - for example, for the analysis of the biochemistry and cell biology of mammalian (including human) cells. The main advantage of using an immortal cell line for research is its immortality; the cells can be grown indefinitely in culture. This simplifies analysis of the biology of cells that may otherwise have a limited lifetime.[citation needed ]

Immortalised cell lines can also be cloned, giving rise to a clonal population that can, in turn, be propagated indefinitely. This allows an analysis to be repeated many times on genetically identical cells, which is desirable for repeatable scientific experiments. The alternative, performing an analysis on primary cells from multiple tissue donors, does not have this advantage.[citation needed ]

Immortalised cell lines find use in biotechnology, where they are a cost-effective way of growing cells similar to those found in a multicellular organism in vitro. The cells are used for a wide variety of purposes, from testing toxicity of compounds or drugs to production of eukaryotic proteins.[citation needed ]

Limitations

Changes from nonimmortal origins

While immortalised cell lines often originate from a well-known tissue type, they have undergone significant mutations to become immortal. This can alter the biology of the cell and must be taken into consideration in any analysis. Further, cell lines can change genetically over multiple passages, leading to phenotypic differences among isolates and potentially different experimental results depending on when and with what strain isolate an experiment is conducted.

Contamination with other cells

Many cell lines that are widely used for biomedical research have been contaminated and overgrown by other, more aggressive cells. For example, supposed thyroid lines were actually melanoma cells, supposed prostate tissue was actually bladder cancer, and supposed normal uterine cultures were actually breast cancer.

There are several methods for generating immortalised cell lines:

1. Isolation from a naturally occurring cancer. This is the original method for generating an immortalised cell line. A major example is human HeLa, a line derived from cervical cancer cells taken on February 8, 1951 from Henrietta Lacks, a 31-year-old African-American mother of five, who died of cancer on October 4, 1951.

2. Introduction of a viral gene that partially deregulates the cell cycle (e.g., the adenovirus type 5 E1 gene was used to immortalise the HEK 293 cell line; the Epstein-Barr virus can immortalise B lymphocytes by infection).

3. Artificial expression of key proteins required for immortality, for example telomerase which prevents degradation of chromosome ends during DNA replication in eukaryotes.

4. Hybridoma technology, specifically used for generating immortalised antibody-producing B cell lines, where an antibody-producing B cell is fused with a myeloma (B cell cancer) cell.

There are several examples of immortalised cell lines, each with different properties. Most immortalised cell lines are classified by the cell type they originated from or are most similar to biologically

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
An immortalised cell line is a population of cells from a multicellular organism that would normally not proliferate indefinitely but, due to mutation, have evaded normal cellular senescence and instead can keep undergoing division. The cells can therefore be grown for prolonged periods .

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Chinese doctor removes patient’s lung tumor using robot from 5,000 km away

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
A surgeon in Shanghai, China successfully conducted a remote lung cancer operation on a patient 5,000 km away using a 5G surgical robot.

# data[].attributes.body
a central concept in Lurianic Kabbalah, a mystical framework developed by Rabbi Isaac Luria (the Ari, 16th century, Safed), which seeks to explain the process of creation and the presence of imperfection and evil in the world.

Here's a more detailed look:

Ein Sof and the Emanation of Light

In Kabbalistic cosmology, before creation, there was only Ein Sof—literally “without end,” the infinite, unknowable, boundless Divine. Ein Sof is beyond comprehension, without form or limitation.

To create the world, Ein Sof had to contract itself—this process is called Tzimtzum.

Tzimtzum: The Divine "withdrew" itself to make a space for the world to exist—like hollowing out a void in the infinite light. Into this space, a line of light (kav) extended to begin the process of creation.

The Ten Vessels and the Breaking

From this line of light emerged Ten Sefirot, or divine attributes (such as Wisdom, Kindness, Strength, etc.). These were supposed to channel the Divine light into the newly created world.

The light was meant to be "contained" by vessels (kelim) corresponding to the sefirot.

However, the vessels were too fragile to hold the intensity of the light.

They shattered under the pressure—this is called the Shevirat ha-Kelim (Breaking of the Vessels).

The Consequences of the Shattering

When the vessels broke:

Sparks of Divine light (netzotzot) were scattered throughout creation.

These sparks became trapped in the material world—in shells or husks (klipot), the forces of concealment, darkness, or even evil.

This cosmic catastrophe explains why the world is imperfect, why there is suffering, fragmentation, and evil.

Tikkun Olam – Repairing the World

Human beings have a role in Tikkun, or repair:

Through mitzvot (good deeds), prayer, ethical actions, and spiritual awareness, we can elevate the sparks and help restore divine harmony.

Each act of goodness releases a spark from the klipah and reunites it with its source.

Thus, the world becomes gradually repaired, bringing us closer to the original unity of Ein Sof.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ultrachrome inkjet print mounted on aluminium support in stainless steel frame\n96 × 120 cm

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ultrachrome inkjet print mounted on aluminium support in stainless steel frame\n60 × 48 cm

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ultrachrome inkjet print mounted on aluminium support in stainless steel frame\n96 × 120 cm

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Ultrachrome inkjet print mounted on aluminium support in stainless steel frame\n96 × 120 cm

# data[].attributes.body
Stell Dich mitten in den Regen, glaube an den Tropfensegen, spinn Dich in dies Rauschen ein und versuche, gut zu sein! Stell Dich mitten in den Wind, glaub an ihn und sei ein Kind – laß den Sturm in Dich hinein und versuche, gut zu sein! Stell Dich mitten in das Feuer – liebe dieses Ungeheuer in des Herzens rotem Wein und versuche, gut zu sein!

# data[].attributes.body
https://www.philara.de/de/exhibitions/2024-01/sammlungspraesentation-fotografie

# data[].attributes.headline
Austrian Song/Poem Georg Thurmair (1935); Recited to me by woman in the mountains 

# data[].attributes.subject
Austrian Song/Poem Georg Thurmair (1935); Recited to me by woman in the mountains 

# data[].attributes.body
Wir sind nur Gast auf Erden und wandern ohne Ruh
mit mancherlei Beschwerden der ewigen Heimat zu.
Die Wege sind verlassen, und oft sind wir allein.
In diesen grauen Gassen will niemand bei uns sein.
Nur einer gibt Geleite, das ist der Herre Christ.
Er wandert treu zur Seite, wenn alles uns vergisst.
Gar manche Wege führen aus dieser Welt hinaus.
O dass wir nicht verlieren den Weg zum Vaterhaus!
Und sind wir einmal müde, dann stell ein Licht uns aus,
o Gott, in deiner Güte, dann finden wir nach Haus.
Georg Thurmair (1935)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Hauser & Wirth was founded in 1992 in Zurich by Iwan Wirth, Manuela Wirth and Ursula Hauser, who were joined in 2000 by Partner and President Marc Payot

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Poems, readings, poetry news and the entire 110-year archive of POETRY magazine.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Harry Nilsson's THE POINT (1971) - Alan Thicke Narration - Third Telecast Restoration

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Breaking of the Vessels - Saint Louis Art Museum

# data[].attributes.headline
Cain and Abraxus mentioned in the book Damian of Herman Hesse:

# data[].attributes.subject
Cain and Abraxus mentioned in the book Damian of Herman Hesse:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Unveiling Deeper Meanings: The Mark of Cain and Abraxas in Hermann Hesse's “Demian”

# data[].attributes.headline
You story reminded me also of the double in relation to the uncanny:

# data[].attributes.subject
You story reminded me also of the double in relation to the uncanny:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.provider_name
Theory in a Digital Age: A Project of English 483 Students, Coastal Carolina University

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Theory in a Digital Age: Freud’s Uncanny Double: A Theoretical Study of the Portrayal of Doubles in Film

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This chapter of the book will look at the history of the theme of the “double” using Freud’s Uncanny as the theoretical insight of the self perception of the double in film/cinema

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Anzeige von Bettina Stangneth: Böses Denken | Zeitschrift für philosophische Literatur

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
The novelist calls the Bible “a meditation on the problem of evil,” which must reconcile the darker sides of humanity with God’s goodness, and the original goodness of being.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"IN THE BEGINNING God created the heaven and the earth." You have to admit it's a hell of an opening line. "When I think there was a day when a human first wrote those words," Marilynne Robinson says, "I am filled with awe." And that, for better and worse, is the kind of book Reading Genesis is-Robinson muses through Genesis, telling you what she thinks, getting filled with awe. It's a book-length reading response. But it's a reading response by Marilynne Robinson, who has written a few of the finest novels in English, so I'll take it.

Of course, she's not really thinking of the day when a human first wrote those words-those particular words were written in the sixteenth century. They're the opening of the King James Version of Genesis, very slightly adapted from the 1560 Geneva Bible. (The KJV Genesis is provided in its entirety at the end of Robinson's book.) Of the Hebrew book of Bereshit, the first book of the Torah, Robinson has not much to say. She writes, as she tells us up front, as a Christian, about the most authoritative Christian translation of Bereshit. There is a long history of admirable Christian writing about Genesis. But Robinson aims to read the text freed from the encumbrance of familiar interpretations, and she is too steeped in Christianity to entirely succeed.

Robinson's essay proceeds casually. She assumes the reader's acquaintance with the text, quoting little, with no citations or notes. Her method is to read the familiar stories-Adam and Eve, Cain and Abel, Noah and the ark, Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham and Isaac, Joseph and his brothers-against the grain of their most common interpretations. She tries to come to the text with fresh eyes, without assumptions, as if she had not lived with this strange narrative since childhood. As if she were its first reader. And although she can't quite pull this off, the virtue of Reading Genesis is that Robinson (not always intentionally) forces even those well acquainted with the Bible to see how much of our understanding of it has been shaped by received readings.

I first encountered Robinson's work in The Death of Adam, a book of essays, which is an unusual entry point. The woman wrote Housekeeping, for God's sake. I am at best a reluctant reader of contemporary fiction (I was recently reminded why by the encomiums heaped on the late Cormac McCarthy, the H. P. Lovecraft of Oswald Spenglers). But The Death of Adam was weird enough-a defense of Calvinism!-to send me to Gilead, Robinson's second novel, published twenty-four years after Housekeeping. I think this epistolary account of the life of the Reverend John Ames, Congregationalist pastor in a small town in Iowa, superior in every way to its fan-favorite predecessor, which I read next. I've since decided that everyone is either a Housekeeping person or a Gilead person, even if they've never read either.

In Gilead and its three companion novels- Home, Lila, Jack- Robinson peers into the dumb black heart of American Christianity and finds its many small gold flecks. Here is the eponymous Lila, wife of the Reverend Ames, in the third installment of the Gilead series, shaking her head over the cruel, ridiculous notion of hell: "Boughton mentioned a Last Judgment. Souls just out of their graves having to answer for lives most of them never understood in the first place."

Empathy pervades the novels, while Robinson's critical work has become increasingly brittle, culminating, in a 2018 essay on her friend Barack Obama, in a repugnant attack on those who "condemn drone warfare or the encroachments of national security, never proposing better options than these painful choices, which by comparison with others on offer, clearly spare lives." Obama's drone program failed to spare the lives of hundreds of civilians, including more than a hundred children, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism. In a recent interview published in the New York Times, she calls President Biden "a gift of God." Biden is currently arming the Israeli military that has killed over 12,000 Palestinian children since last October.

Reading Genesis is, blessedly, closer in spirit to the novels than the other nonfiction, perhaps because Genesis is a book about how lost we are and how little we know. Robinson tells us that "the story" of chapters fifteen through seventeen "knows utterly more than Abram and Sarai can know." And again: "The story knows what the reader or hearer does and doesn't know." Partly this is just a way of saying that the characters and readers of the story are not privy to information that the narrator (or God himself) will unfold in time. But it also rebukes the assumption that we know what these "stories" mean, that they cannot surprise us by revealing aspects of themselves that cast them in unsuspected shades. The text is wiser than we are, a sphere confronting the planar surfaces of our reading.

This often takes the form of a reminder of what the text does not say. Thus, of the nature of the mark or sign that protects Cain from avengers we are told nothing. "For all we know, it could have made him disarmingly beautiful." Or consider Noah, spared from the waters to be established within God's covenant. That covenant includes the requirement that whoever spills another's blood will have his blood spilled. Robinson reads this divine sanction of retribution, which seems hard to square with Yahweh's leniency toward Cain and others, as "a sad concession to the human penchant for violence." He sees how we are, and he can't just go around flooding the world all the time, so he makes a few grudging allowances.

Or consider Isaac, "the least interesting of all the patriarchs." The story of the binding of Isaac-God said to Abraham, "Kill me a son"-might be the most difficult in all the Bible to square with God's supposed goodness. Sure, he spares the boy in the end, but not before conducting hardcore psychological warfare. I've always seen the tale as a test, not of Abraham and Isaac but of the reader: if you can read it without concluding that Abraham should have told God to go fuck himself, there's something wrong with you.

Robinson has found an elegant way around this, which might amount to special pleading, but which nevertheless bears the weight of a problem that has been worked through. "It is surely reasonable," she notes, "to assume that we are not always the Bible's primary audience." Here she flirts with historicism, arguing that the story could be didactic, intended as a lesson that child sacrifice-which some contemporaries of the Hebrews, worshippers of Moloch, seem to have practiced-is neither necessary nor efficacious. If child sacrifice was observed in the ancient Near East, it would be nice to know that your god will never require the blood of your children. The point of the story is thus not "Abraham's patient obedience" but the "dramatizing of child sacrifice" as "something shocking and transgressive, rejected by God." Not that this interpretation would be of much comfort to Abraham or Isaac, whose thoughts and feelings, Robinson reminds us, we do not know. "Nothing," at any rate, "distracts from the unspeakable imminent act."

For Robinson, these famous tales constitute "a study in the fact that people see what they want to see, even in Holy Scripture, whose presumed authority should encourage careful reading." She sums up her critical method thus: "I am assuming, always, that there is a point of view of the text, that these stories have been considered together, seriously and reverently and in the light of experience, that their antiquity does not mean they are naïve." She sets her capaciousness as a reader against a putative "tendency in biblical scholarship to treat these stories as if they are too primitive to arise from or to sustain a context in light of which they can be interpreted."

Indeed, she dismisses such scholarship per se, without actually engaging or even quoting any of it. It's true that academic work on the Bible can get quite weedy: the University of Arizona's Bible and Interpretation site informs me that "it is somewhat interesting that we should find the periphrasis with wehayah + participle and also a following lqr't in only these two chapters in Samuel." (Only somewhat?) But Robinson's invective is a bit lazy. Has she read, say, Thomas Römer's The Invention of God, with its thesis that the Hebrew Bible contains traces of an earlier Israelite polytheism that only gradually evolved into the monotheistic worship of Yahweh? At one point, Robinson says that "the great figures of Scripture are not at all Homeric. They do not absorb the energies of the narrative into themselves." She surely knows she is paraphrasing Erich Auerbach's famous argument in Mimesis. But Auerbach is not mentioned. Nor, in her discussion of Abraham's readiness to sacrifice Isaac, is Kierkegaard's authoritative reading of this terrible story, Fear and Trembling; nor Kafka, for that matter, whose parable "Abraham" anticipates some of Robinson's own observations. Reading Genesis, at Robinson's level, involves having read influential readings of Genesis, but she has nothing to say about them.

No one can shed all her assumptions, for no one can be aware of them all. For example, Robinson points out that, when Adam and Eve eat the fruit of the forbidden tree, they do not die, as Yahweh had told them they would. "Satan was right to reassure them," she concludes. It's remarkable that so egregious a sentence made it past a fact-checker. The serpent in the garden is not Satan. Satan doesn't show up in the Hebrew Bible until the Book of Numbers, and it is only in the New Testament that he starts to sort of resemble the malevolent figure of horror movies and black metal. (Nowhere in scripture is he said to be the ruler of hell.) The snake is identified with Satan only in later Christian tradition.

As noted above, Reading Genesis is not really about the Hebrew book of Bereshit. Jesus is mentioned five times in the first twenty pages. Robinson is candid about this, writing that she will illustrate "points about the Hebrew Bible with instances from the New Testament" because "it is relevant to interpretation that this aspect of the older text is sustained in the newer one despite all the time and cultural change that stands [ sic] between them." Is it also relevant to interpretation that Robinson comes out of the Calvinist tradition of Protestantism, which has its own ideas about Genesis? She has written eloquently elsewhere of the Geneva Bible, the beautiful predecessor of the King James. Geneva was the Bible of Shakespeare and Donne, of the Mayflower, of early America. Its theological presuppositions are printed in the very margins of the text, as annotations of an overtly Puritan and Calvinist character. The note to the serpent's first appearance in Genesis reads, "God suffered Satan to make the serpent his instrument and to speak in him."

Furthermore, Reading Genesis is a product of Western Christian learning. Robinson tacitly assumes points of theology that would raise eyebrows in the Eastern churches. She also contradicts herself (we all do; this is one of the themes of the Hebrew Bible). When God comes to destroy Sodom, Abraham gets him to agree to spare the city if even ten righteous men are found there. Robinson says that this agreement "elicits a scriptural statement about the nature of God-not that He would spare the righteous in punishing sinners but that He would instead spare sinners in protecting the righteous. His care for the good exceeds His readiness to punish evil."

But ten righteous men are not to be found, so God destroys Sodom, after removing Lot and his family. Robinson then argues that, though it is "a real question" whether "Lot should be considered righteous," the question is moot, since the Lord whisked him and his out of harm's way. Huh? True, God agreed to spare the city only if ten righteous were found, not nine or five or two. But if Lot and his family were in fact righteous, and God removed them and destroyed the city anyway, then he plainly spared the righteous in punishing sinners, the opposite of what Robinson claims. She points out that Lot's pretty sketchy-he offers his virgin daughters to a mob and later impregnates them. But his righteousness is either a real question or it isn't.

For Robinson, the God of Genesis is good, as the text declares. This is what distinguishes him, for her, from the gods of Babylon, who "were volatile, impulsive, but also needy." And, um, Yahweh isn't? Throughout the Hebrew Bible he is at times spiteful, hysterical, irrational, hypocritical, and downright murderous-in a word, human. He sics bears on children and wipes out cities. He creates humanity then drowns the world when we get too out of hand, as if our existence weren't his fault in the first place. As my students concluded the last time I taught the Bible, Yahweh needs a good therapist.

But this is as much as to say that there is no single Yahweh in the Bible. The text was produced by various hands over centuries; inconsistencies and contradictions abound, as they do also in the New Testament. Robinson doesn't gloss over this question, but I think it deserves more consideration than she allows. "I have dwelt on this sequence of stories," she writes, "exploring the ways in which the faithfulness of God is manifest in the world of fallen humankind." And though she acknowledges that "it is not always obvious that God does love humankind as such," she quickly allows that "this is, of course, a human view of the matter."

Well, sure. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts." But I think of poor Job, of poor Isaac, of the poor world in general, and I am not sure that a little more skepticism about God's faithfulness might not be called for in a book of this sort. This may seem a rather banal point, but it is one that Robinson shies from, almost as if she were reluctant to look too closely into the question, afraid of what she might read there.

Reading Genesis is not for everyone. Ronald Hendel's The Book of Genesis: A Biography is much better as a general introduction, though his prose is far dimmer than Robinson's. And I must note that there are two kinds of reader who are mostly beneath Robinson's notice: the literalists-who believe that, for instance, there was a real Noah who built a real ark ("Moreover," Origen wrote scathingly in the third century, "we find that God is said to stroll in the garden in the afternoon and Adam to hide under a tree")-and the smug illiterates of Darwinian scientism. Such readers are incapable of appreciating that "the Bible does not exist to explain away mysteries and complexities but to reveal and explore them with a respect and restraint that resists conclusion." We all succumb, at times, to the temptation to leap to conclusions where we should respect complexity-that is one of the lessons of Genesis's many misunderstandings and confusions.

Indeed, Robinson dwells on stories that hinge on misinterpretation-wives taken for sisters, sons for elder sons, angels for men, brothers for strangers-as if to suggest that the recurrence of themes of deception, of things not being what they seem, is a key to exegesis, a guide to how to read the Bible. Do not assume that you know what these stories are saying. As readers, we are more like blind Isaac than cunning Jacob. "Sustaining paradox," Robinson says, "is the genius of the text."

She twice draws attention to broken or unfinished sentences. The first, Genesis 3:22, is not broken in the original (to which, as far as I can tell, Robert Alter is the best guide in English), but the second, from 25:22, is revealing. Isaac's wife Rebekah is carrying twins that war within her womb. Robinson writes:

Rebekah's voice is heard in her distress at the miseries of her pregnancy: "If it be so, why am I thus?" In the Hebrew, her sentence is unfinished. The word live is normally supplied in translations-Why do I live? But the break, as if her feelings exceed her power of expression, seems in character.

Alter translates Rebekah's cry as "Then why me?" and adds that "her words might even be construed as a broken-off sentence: Then why am I . . . ?"

All this puts me in mind of a famous broken-off sentence in American literature:

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter-to-morrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. . . . And one fine morning - -

Genesis is the story of a seemingly endlessly delayed fine morning, "Time is implicated," Robinson says, "in the idea of a covenant or a promise. Destiny will be fulfilled, loyalty will be maintained, into a future unlike all the misery and unhappiness that must intervene between now and then." But then again, one of the Bible's great themes is that "disappointment is a very familiar turn in human affairs."

Michael Robbins is the author of the poetry collection Walkman (Penguin, 2021) and other books.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Marilynne Robinson goes back to the beginning - Michael Robbins

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
The award-winning novelist and social critic Marilynne Robinson has turned the focus of her literary intelligence on to the first book of the Bible. Genesis, the foundational imaginative text of western culture, has permeated our art and literature, as well as shaping a whole understanding of life, including politics. Its stories remain at once compelling and mystifying. Some of the stories, most obviously that of a great flood, resemble others from Mesopotamia, such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Enuma Elish, but Robinson shows how differently Genesis treats them. There was, she says, no deluge - but the story is a parable to show that although we human beings have made a terrible mess of the world, so much so that we might be tempted to destroy the lot and start again, this is not what God does. He wants life to continue and, despite everything, it remains a blessing.

Although Genesis makes it clear that God desires moral rectitude from human beings, the main characters often reveal themselves to be deeply flawed. Cain is a killer. Abraham tolerates cruelty, Jacob is a liar and twister. The point is that, despite these failings, there is a primal purpose in creation that does not give up on humanity. One of the aspects of Genesis which Robinson brings out strongly is its universality. The descendants of Abraham are to be as numerous as the stars in the sky and in him all the families of the Earth are to be blessed. It is a remarkable fact that today billions of Jews, Christians and Muslims, in their different ways, do regard themselves as children of Abraham.

Robinson's reading is full of telling details and keenly observed parallels. This enables her to show that what Jews term the binding of Isaac is not a test of Abraham's faith, but a prohibition of the child sacrifice that occurred in some other cultures, for example in Carthage. Although she is familiar with biblical scholarship and makes use of it where necessary, this work is best seen as a close, attentive reading from a literary point of view. In her approach there is something of the sense of astonishment and marvel that is present in her novels. About the first words of Genesis she writes, "When I think there was a day when a human hand first wrote those words, I am filled with awe. This sentence is a masterpiece of compression."

"There's a divinity that shapes our ends, rough-hew them how we will," Hamlet said to Horatio. That is the conviction that controls the narrative of Genesis, culminating in its closing, when Joseph says to the brothers who tried to murder him, "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today."

Robinson makes few concessions to the reader. There is no introduction or conclusion; there are no chapter headings or signposts. She just wants her audience to look again at Genesis and see what they make of it. To that end the Book of Genesis itself is printed at the back, in the Revised Standard Version, the one that still carries the cadences of the King James Bible while being more accurate. To read that and then Robinson's careful analysis is to have one's understanding of the text profoundly enriched and changed.

skip past newsletter promotion
Discover new books and learn more about your favourite authors with our expert reviews, interviews and news stories. Literary delights delivered direct to you
Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain info about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. For more information see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
after newsletter promotion

Richard Harries is a former bishop of Oxford and the author of Haunted by Christ: Modern Writers and the Struggle for Faith. Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson is published by Virago (£25). To support the Guardian and the Observer buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Reading Genesis by Marilynne Robinson review - rich literary reading of the first book of the Bible

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This careful analysis of the foundational text is full of telling details and keenly observed parallels

# data[].attributes.headline
Essay Studio Classroom semester 5, 26-9-2024

# data[].attributes.subject
Essay Studio Classroom semester 5, 26-9-2024

# data[].attributes.body
Dear Gillian,

Two key concepts seem central here: light and flesh, the immaterial and the material. You were considering writing an essay in defense of Cain. You could certainly pursue this in a traditional essay format, but it might also be interesting to explore it through a letter-essay or a dialogue-essay (perhaps between Abel and Cain), or even as a courtroom defense, as if Cain were on trial.

Would it be worth incorporating fragments from the book East of Eden, or drawing on the ideas of thinkers such as Stangneth, Safranski, or Marilynne Robinson (as discussed in posts)? All of these sources engage with biblical themes, particularly with Cain and the concept of evil. Alternatively, you could refer to these or other sources in footnotes, elaborating on how they relate to specific aspects of your defense letter.

Additionally, it might be intriguing to compare John Steinbeck's portrayal of Cain in East of Eden with Marilynne Robinson’s interpretation of Cain in the Genesis story. See posts.

# data[].attributes.body
an immensily important story for my current work.

Cain represents to me man's struggle between the divine (light) and his own depravity (flesh). Steinbeck tells the story of Cain wonderfully: Cain knows that he has evil inside him. And when he leans into it, it even smiles visciously back at him - There's a pleasure in evil. Yet it is also Cain's greatest agony.

# data[].attributes.headline
The role of boundaries/limits/transgression in Genesis 

# data[].attributes.subject
The role of boundaries/limits/transgression in Genesis 

# data[].attributes.body
Stories that give reason as to why man cannot reach god-like, divine status. They are stories that explain the origins of our limitations as descriptions of what they are.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Having learnt to weld, in order to create larger scale Mobiles and Stabiles suitable for public display, a swift period of evolution began for Chadwick in the early 50's . As the moving elements gradually fused into welded metal rods and iron, the attitude and energy of his angular sculptures sharpened. Delicate and aggressive, these forms are a haunting synthesis of horns, teeth, spikes and pincer-like legs.

In 1953 Chadwick introduced plaster into his work. The process of welding metal armatures and surfacing them with plaster became the blueprint for his bronze working models (see Bronze Works).

In 1962, Chadwick produced his largest Welded Iron work, see 'Two Winged Figures', which went on display at the city of Spoleto, Italy for the 'Festival of Two Worlds' exhibition.

During the winter of 1963, Chadwick was held captive by heavy snow at his home in Gloucestershire. Unable to obtain the materials he was then working with (Iron rods and Stolit), he collected broken machinery about the dilapidated outbuildings. He used this

assortment of parts to weld together a unique collection of work, see Transmuter III -1963. These works are now on permanent loan to Nordjyllands Kunstmuseum, Aalborg, Denmark.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Having learnt to weld, in order to create larger scale Mobiles and Stabiles suitable for public display, a swift period of evolution began for Chadwick in the early 50's . As the moving elements gradually fused into welded metal rods and iron, the attitude and energy of his angular sculptures sharpened.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Die Fenster sowie die Türen bestehen aus einer Glasscheibe und sind bewusst sehr hell (Licht) gehalten. Die Gläser sind heißstrukturierte und Bemalte Floatglasscheiben. Der Gesamteindruck der Fenster ist großzügig, einfach, teilweise symbolisch und weitgehend farblos. Eingesetzt werden klare rote, gelbe und blaue Flächen. Sie addieren sich zu großflächigen mattgestrahlten Flächen. Durch die Aufteilung entsteht der Eindruck, als ob die farbige Gestaltung sich hinter den Wänden fortführen würde.

Einzig das gotisches Chorfenster ist bildnerisch gelöst. Es besitzt einen erzählerischen Charakter. Wasser, Licht und der heilige Geist sind durch die Glasstruktur und Emailmalerei symbolisch präsent.

Alle anderen Fenster sind dank die Wiederholungen einfacher Muster ein Spiel mit dem Licht und dem Raum. Die Art der Verarbeitung lässt das Material Glas, und die zum Vorschein gebrachte Immaterialität vom Licht zum Thema werden. Die Fenster wirken kraftvoll aber sehr zurückhaltend.

Die Gestaltungsvorschläge der Türen verbinden die gesamten Glasflächen zu einer geschlossenen Einheit. Die Wand zur Beichtkapelle ist aus einem in sich gefärbten Kalkmörtelverputz hergestellt. Die Tür ist eine strukturierte (ganz)Glastür.

Die Farben sind bis auf das Blau, Silber- und Kupferbeize. Sie haben die Eigenschaft nicht aufgetragene Farbe zu sein, sondern im Brennvorgang das transparente Glas zu färben. Somit sind diese Farbflächen reine Glasflächen die das Licht durch "Prismen" Effekte eher verstärken als filtrieren.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Die Fenster sowie die Türen bestehen aus einer Glasscheibe und sind bewusst sehr hell (Licht) gehalten. Die Gläser sind heißstrukturierte und Bemalte Floatglasscheiben. Der Gesamteindruck der Fenster ist großzügig, einfach, teilweise symbolisch und weitgehend farblos. Eingesetzt werden klare rote, gelbe und blaue Flächen. Sie addieren sich zu großflächigen mattgestrahlten Flächen.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.keywords[]
crayon and graphite on paper on cardboard

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
'Devastation, 1940: A House on the Welsh Border', Graham Sutherland OM, 1940 | Tate

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
'Devastation, 1940: A House on the Welsh Border', Graham Sutherland OM, 1940

# data[].attributes.body
What is beautiful is responsible for those it caught in its gaze.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Here is always somewhere else (documentary about conceptual artist Bas Jan Ader)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Academic work, for the modern imagination, is often dominated by the idea that school is but a stepping stone to the next best thing. This is the rat race: One goes to the best pre-K in order to get into the best kindergarten. One goes to the best elementary school to get into the best middle school. One goes to the best middle school to get to the best high school. One goes to the best high school to get into the best college. One goes to the best college in order to be successful. This may look like getting into the best graduate program, getting the best job, or making the most amount of money. Wealthy, anxious parents in NYC actually pay nearly $45k per year to enroll their children in pre-K programs that are more competitive than Harvard, with the expectation that this will set them up nicely to get into the Ivy League. [1] Surely academic work is a stepping stone. It is a means to an end, namely success, but success conceived in a certain way. There have been a flurry of articles and essays on the purpose of academic work (college, in particular) and it's worth asking the question "What is academic work for?"
THE PEARL OF GREAT PRICE
Simone Weil, the 20th century French philosopher, political activist, and Christian mystic (albeit a strange one... but aren't they all?), has an interesting answer to that question. Read how Weil (pronounced "vay" as in "inveigh" without the "in") concludes her essay on the purpose of academic work in Waiting for God : "academic work is one of those fields containing a pearl so precious that it is worth while to sell all our possessions, keeping nothing for ourselves, in order to be able to acquire it." [1] Weil is clearly alluding to Jesus' parables in the Gospel of Matthew: "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it (Mt. 13:44-46). Weil concludes, arguing that there is a treasure to be found in academic work on the level of the kingdom of heaven. This pearl is of supreme value - it is worthwhile to sell all we own to acquire it. According for Weil, in other words, studiousness is next to godliness.
ACADEMIC WORK AND ATTENTION
For Weil academic work is also a stepping stone, but a step to an end entirely different from that our culture commonly looks to. That end is the development of the faculty of attention because attention is the substance of prayer. The central thrust of her essay is that the primary purpose of academic work is not the next program you get into, the position you're hired for, or the amount you get paid. Though I would soften her hyperbolic assertions, her point is worth hearing all the same: one of the primary purposes of academic work is the development of the faculty of attention because attention is the substance of prayer, the love of God, and the love of neighbor. Here's the provocative idea in her own words:
Although people seem to be unaware of it today, the development of the faculty of attention forms the real object and almost the sole interest of studies...Students must therefore work without any wish to gain good marks, to pass examinations, to win school successes; without any reference to their natural abilities and tastes; applying themselves equally to all their tasks, with the idea that each one will help to form in them the habit of that attention which is the substance of prayer. When we set out to do a piece of work, it is necessary to wish to do it correctly, because such a wish is indispensable in any true effort. Underlying this immediate objective, however, our deep purpose should aim solely at increasing the power of attention with a view of prayer...To make this the sole and exclusive purpose of our studies is the first condition to be observed if we are to put them to the right use. [2]
Though I wouldn't put it in such stark terms, Weil casts light into an overlooked possibility of academic studies. School is more than just a thing to position you well for more school or a fat wallet. School is more than just a place where one learns how to think critically and ask good questions. School is also the place where one can learn to pray because coursework offers the student the space to develop her faculty of attention.
WHAT ATTENTION IS NOT
Weil clarifies what she means by attention by juxtaposing it with a willed, muscular effort. She writes:
If one says to one's pupils: 'Now you must pay attention,' one sees them contracting their brows, holding their breath, stiffening their muscles. If after two minutes they are asked what they have been paying attention to, they cannot reply. They have been concentrating on nothing. They have not been paying attention. They have been contracting their muscles. We often expend this kind of muscular effort on our studies. As it ends by making us tired, we have the impression that we have been working...This kind of muscular effort in work is entirely barren, even if it is made with the best of intentions...Studies conducted in such a way can sometimes succeed academically from the point of view of gaining marks and passing examinations, but that is in spite of the effort thanks to natural gifts; moreover such studies are never of any use. [3]
Such studies are certainly of use for their shallower purpose, namely gaining marks and passing examinations. This is success, to be sure, but in a shallow sense compared to the riches of developing the faculty of attention.
ATTENTION: STUDY, PRAY, LOVE

Weil argues that attention is the pearl of great price to be found in the various fields of study because attention is the very substance of prayer and of love for both God and neighbor. This, of course, begs the question: how in the world can this be the case?
Attention is necessary for prayer because prayer is an active receptivity (not to be confused with passivity) towards and for God. The ability to attend to a problem set, or textbook, or term paper with the utmost focus strengthens our ability to pray. This idea is clearly understood once one considers one of the major obstacles to the quality and quantity of our prayer: distraction (most often caused by social media and/or YouTube videos of kittens. Mea Culpa. The quality of one's prayer life generally has a strong correlation with one's attention span. In addition to fostering prayer, the faculty of attention also facilitates the love of God. This is because attention prepares and opens the soul to the presence of God. For this reason, it is the responsibility of teachers and spiritual guides to "bring out in a brilliantly clear light the correspondence between the attitude of the intelligence in each one of [the academic] exercises and the position of the soul, which, with its lamp well filled with oil, awaits the Bridegroom's coming with confidence and desire." [4] Attention is the substance of the love of God. It is that which enables us to love the Lord with our all our heart, with all our soul, and with all our mind. Again, a robust faculty of attention is able to fend off other suitor's of the soul. When our attention falters, oftentimes so does our love. Lastly, what I find most compelling in Weil's essay is how attention cultivates the love of neighbor. She writes:
Those who are unhappy have no need for anything in this world but people capable of giving them their attention. The capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle. Nearly all those who think they have this capacity do not possess it. Warmth of heart, impulsiveness, pity are not enough...The love of neighbor in all its fullness simply means being able to say to him: 'What are you going through?'" [5]
The faculty of attention is that which enables us to be selfless; to empty ourselves and give of ourselves wholly to another. Attention enables the threefold movement of the love of neighbor. It enables us to see, to ask, and to listen. Attention enables me to look beyond myself that I might notice and see the other, my neighbor. Attention enables me to genuinely ask the most simple, profound question: "What are you going through?" Finally, attention enables me to really listen to her response. Elsewhere, Weil writes that "attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity" because it is both the turning directly towards and the giving totally of our selves to the other. Without attention, it is impossible to do these things. It is often noted that the previous level of schooling was important not so much for the content of the coursework (though this is clearly important) but for the way the classes teach one how to think. Rarely, if ever, have I heard anyone think of their coursework as the classroom for learning how to pray. Therefore, this is the challenge Weil levels for Christians: "School children and students who love God should never say: 'For my part I like mathematics'; 'I like French'; 'I like Greek.' They should learn to like all these subjects, because all of them develop that faculty of attention which, directed toward God, is the very substance of prayer." [6] Despite the intrinsic value of academic work, perhaps the deepest purpose of academic work is not knowledge, good grades, entrance into a better school, or a good job. In other words, school is not primarily for the next program, the good position, the fat paycheck; it is for prayer. The supreme value of academic work is the opportunity it provides to develop the faculty of attention. And, attention is, so to speak, the gatekeeper of prayer, the love of God, and the love of neighbor because it opens us up to their very possibilities. Therefore, "happy then are those who pass their adolescence and youth in developing this power of attention...whoever goes through years of study without developing this attention within himself has lost a great treasure." [7]
[1] Anna Bahr, "When the College Admissions Battle Starts at 3," New York Times, July 29, 2014. http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/07/30/upshot/when-the-college-admissions-battle-starts-at-age-3.html?_r=0
[2] Simone Weil, "Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God," in Waiting for God
(HarperCollins, 2009), 57, 59.
[3] ibid., 60-61.
[4] ibid., 63.
[5] ibid., 64.
[6] ibid., 57-58.
[7] ibid., 64.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Study, Pray, Love: Simone Weil on Attention

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Academic work, for the modern imagination, is often dominated by the idea that school is but a stepping stone to the next best thing. This is the rat race: [...]

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
"Everyone knows what attention is," William James famously declared in his Principles of Psychology. For those who are not "everyone," James goes on to explain that attention is the "taking possession by the mind, in clear and vivid form, of one out of what seem several simultaneously possible objects or trains of thought. Focalization, concentration, of consciousness is of its essence. It implies withdrawal from some things in order to deal effectively with others."

Though she agrees with James's insistence that attention both engages the mind and entails a kind of withdrawal, Weil would have taken issue with the claim that attention requires the mind's concentration-tensing, really-on a specific issue. For Weil, this kind of mental tautness is, in fact, inimical to true attention. In Weil's role as a teacher, we catch glimpses of what she understood by attention. For example, Anne Reynaud, one of her students at Roanne in 1933, recalled that Weil would take the class outdoors and gather them under a tall cedar tree where they would together "seek problems in geometry." The phrase is telling: rather than "finding the answer," the students instead looked for problems. Reflecting upon a problem, rather than resolving it, was Weil's goal. No less telling is Reynaud's recollection that Weil never dictated to the students during her lectures, just as she always refused to give them grades. These habits were bred not from indifference, but instead from a radically different conception of attention.

While waiting with her parents in Marseille for their visas to the United States, Weil presented her ideas about the teaching of attention to Joseph-Marie Perrin. In the late spring of 1941, Weil had contacted this nearly blind Dominican priest in order to discuss the possibility of converting to Catholicism. Perrin readily agreed to a meeting, which took place on June 7, 1941, at the Dominican convent in Marseille. Between then and the following May, when she left with her parents for New York, Weil met several more times with Perrin, mostly discussing the theological and dogmatic issues that, for Weil, stood in the way of her conversion. (They almost certainly never discussed their respective participation in Resistance activities.

Under Perrin's guidance, the convent became a safe house for Resistance fighters and French and foreign Jews, while at the same time he oversaw the dissemination of the clandestine journal Les Cahiers du témoignage chrétien.) The conversations between these two friends also unfolded, in sporadic fashion, through the exchange of letters before and after Weil's departure. In the opening lines of her first letter, Weil set the tone: "I am tired of talking to you about myself, for it is a wretched subject, but I am obliged to do so by the interest you take in me as a result of your charity."
Reflecting upon a problem, rather than resolving it, was Weil's goal.
Shortly before leaving Marseille, Weil sent Perrin an essay titled "Réflexions sur le bon usage des études scolaires en vue de l'amour de Dieu" ("Reflections on the Right Use of School Studies with a View to the Love of God"). By "view," Weil means attention-the one skill all schools should cultivate in their students. But we need to attend to her understanding of the term. Normally, when we pay attention to someone or something, we undertake what Weil calls a "muscular effort": our eyes lock on another's eyes, our expressions reflect the proper response, and our bodies shift in relation to the object to which we are paying attention. This kind of attention flourishes in therapists' offices, business schools, and funeral homes. It is a performative rather than reflective act, one that displays rather than truly pays attention. This sort of attention is usually accompanied by a kind of frowning application-the very same sort, as Weil notes, that leads us to a self-congratulatory "I have worked well!"

For Weil, attention is a "negative effort," one that requires that we stand still rather than lean in. The object of this kind of attention could be mathematical or textual, a matter of grasping a puzzle posed by Euclid or one posed by Racine. Whether we do solve the problem, argues Weil, is secondary. The going is as important as the getting there, if not even more so. "It does not even matter much whether we succeed in finding the solution or understanding the proof, although it is important to try really hard to do so. Never in any case whatever is a genuine effort of the attention wasted." Scorning practices like memorization and dictation that impose the "right answers" upon students, she acknowledges that the practices she wished to instill in students were alien to schools in her own day (and they remain alien to most schools in our own day). "Although people seem to be unaware of it today," she declares, "the development of the faculty of attention forms the real object and almost the sole interest of studies... All tasks that call upon the power of attention are interesting for the same reasons and to an almost equal degree."

Is it really as simple, though, as saying that it is the going, and not the getting there, that counts? For Weil this could be deeply misleading. First, she gives this notion a particular twist: by embracing the going and not the getting there, we will ultimately get to somewhere more important than the original destination. Even should we fail to solve a geometry problem at the end of an hour, we will nevertheless have penetrated into what Weil calls "another more mysterious dimension." This dimension is moral: it is the space where, by our act of attention, we grasp what has always been the real mystery-the lives of our fellow human beings.

Weil argues that this activity has little to do with the sort of effort most of us make when we think we are paying attention. Rather than the contracting of our muscles, attention involves the canceling of our desires; by turning toward another, we turn away from our blinding and bulimic self. The suspension of our thought, Weil declares, leaves us "detached, empty, and ready to be penetrated by the object." To attend means not to seek, but to wait; not to concentrate, but instead to dilate our minds. We do not gain insights, Weil claims, by going in search of them, but instead by waiting for them: "In every school exercise there is a special way of waiting upon truth, setting our hearts upon it, yet not allowing ourselves to go out in search of it... There is a way of waiting, when we are writing, for the right word to come of itself at the end of our pen, while we merely reject all inadequate words."
To attend means not to seek, but to wait; not to concentrate, but instead to dilate our minds. We do not gain insights, Weil claims, by going in search of them, but instead by waiting for them.
This is a supremely difficult stance to grasp. As Weil notes, "the capacity to give one's attention to a sufferer is a very rare and difficult thing; it is almost a miracle; it is a miracle. Nearly all those who think they have this capacity do not possess it." I, for one, know I do not possess it, not only because it collides with the way I think about thought, but also because it collides with the fact that I can rarely, if ever, think about anything or anyone else without also thinking about myself. To attend to a fellow human being entails far more than thinking about or even feeling for that person. Pity, like cognition, involves reaching toward another by acknowledging her suffering. In this respect, my faculty of sympathy fixes on someone else just as my faculty of thought does. And once it does, it most often compartmentalizes and forgets that person. As Weil notes, pity is unlike compassion in that "it consists in helping someone in misfortune so as not to be obliged to think about him anymore, or for the pleasure of feeling the distance between him and oneself."

Compassion, in contrast, means that I identify with the afflicted individual so fully that I feed him for the same reason I feed myself: because we are both hungry. In other words, I have paid him attention. It is a faculty that does not latch onto the other, but instead remains still and open. We do not fully understand a hammer, Martin Heidegger observed, simply by staring at it. Instead, understanding comes when we pick it up and use it. Weil gives this observation an unusual wrinkle: we do not fully understand a fellow human being by staring, thinking, or even commiserating with her. Instead, understanding comes only when we let go of our self and allow the other to grab our full attention. In order for the reality of the other's self to fully invest us, we must first divest ourselves of our own selves.

It is tempting to see this faculty as thinking about thinking, or what psychologists call metacognition. This approach, at first glance, bears a resemblance to the meditation and mindfulness courses that are now multiplying at colleges and universities. One institution of higher learning, Lesley University, now offers a master's degree in mindfulness studies, while academics can join professional organizations like the Center for Contemplative Mind in Society, which seeks "to transform higher education by supporting and encouraging the use of contemplative/ introspective practices and perspectives." These programs seek to develop what the psychologist Tobin Hart describes as "knowing through silence, looking inward, pondering deeply, beholding, witnessing the contents of our consciousness."

At first glance, this seems to be what Weil meant. Citing Descartes, she told Anne Reynaud and her fellow students that it "is one thing to be conscious, quite another to be conscious that one is." But the resemblance ends here. Weil's philosophical stance does not call upon her students to look inward and consider the contents of their consciousness. To the contrary, Weil urges them to look outward and away from the contents of their consciousness. Being conscious of our consciousness is a starting point, not an end point, meta- or otherwise. "Complete attention," Weil declared, "is like unconsciousness." As such, it is a state that does not entail a particular action or stance, but instead suggests a form of reception, open and nonjudgmental, of the world. In a beautifully evocative phrase, Weil writes that when we translate a text from a foreign language into our own, we rightly do not seek to add anything to it. Ideally, this is how the student must approach the world. She must see and write about it as if she is translating "a text that is not written down." In an age where students cannot escape their social media shadows, this is less a Zen riddle than a pedagogical urgency.
Understanding comes only when we let go of our self and allow the other to grab our full attention. In order for the reality of the other's self to fully invest us, we must first divest ourselves of our own selves.
Such a state is difficult to reach, much less to grade. Reynaud would not have been surprised to learn of her former teacher's exhortation, made several years later, that students must "work without any wish to gain good marks, to pass examinations, to win school successes; without any reference to their natural abilities and tastes; applying themselves equally to all their tasks, with the idea that each one will help to form in them the habit of attention." One might as well flunk a new student of basketball who, though absorbed by the exercise, fails to hit the rim with his shots. "Every time that a human being succeeds in making an effort of attention with the sole idea of increasing his grasp of truth, he acquires a greater aptitude for grasping it, even if his effort produces no visible fruit."

Weil's portrayal of attention has been said to resemble the vita contemplative traditionally associated with ancient thinkers from Plato to Augustine. But the resemblance is potentially misleading, if only because we usually assume the contemplative life is the same as a passive life-a life in which the highest good seems to entail the abandonment of practical engagement in the world. But Weilian attention leads its practitioner precisely back into the thick of the world. Paying attention to others means that I must acknowledge and respect their reality. As we belong to the same world and are equally vulnerable to the crushing reality of force, I reorient my attention to them and away from myself. Peter Winch memorably captured this condition: "I cannot understand the other's affliction from the point of view of my own privileged position; I have rather to understand myself from the standpoint of the other's affliction, to understand that my privileged position is not part of my essential nature, but an accident of fate."

______________________________________
Reprinted with permission from The Subversive Simone Weil: A Life in Five Ideas by Robert Zaretsky, published by the University of Chicago Press. © 2021 by Robert Zaretsky. All rights reserved.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Simone Weil's Radical Conception of Attention

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
"Everyone knows what attention is," William James famously declared in his Principles of Psychology. For those who are not "everyone," James goes on to explain that attention is the "taking possess...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Heart Transplant (Thomas E. MacGillivray, MD, Erik Eddie Suarez, MD, M. Mujeeb Zubair, MD)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Introduction to Jacques Lacan, Module on Psychosexual Development