Portrait of Ludwig van Beethoven by Joseph Karl Stieler, 1820. Beethoven-Haus Bonn
DECRYPTION – Genetic analyzes carried out on locks of the composer’s hair lift the veil on his health problems, but above all on his lineage.
Genealogical genetics is a fascinating, but dangerous game: an “extramarital paternity event” can appear in your personal history… What to think when this misadventure happens to an individual of immense notoriety, but who has been dead for almost two centuries now? In this case Ludwig van Beethoven, the German composer whose DNA, from several strands of hair, could be analyzed in order to determine the causes of his deafness and his death. The work, which took nearly eight years, was carried out by an international team led by Johannes Krause, a paleogeneticist at the Max Planck Institute in Leipzig, and is published in the journal Current Biology . « These are technically remarkable works.comments Olivier Dutour, director of studies in biological anthropology at the Practical School of Advanced Studies in Paris (PSL University). The authors have been able to deploy treasures of biological technologies ! »
In 1802, twenty-five…
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