Mount Vesuvius eruption turned man’s brain into glass. Here’s how it happened
The disaster that obliterated two cities also created the intense heat and rapid cooling behind the one-of-a-kind transformation
It was a surprising discovery when scientists examining the remains of a man who died in bed in the ancient city of Herculaneum after Italy’s Mount Vesuvius erupted in AD79 found dark fragments resembling obsidian inside his skull. It turns out the eruption had somehow turned his brain into glass.
It is the only case on record of such a phenomenon, and researchers now have answers for why and how it happened.
They say the vitrification – transformation into glass – of this victim’s brain was the apparent effect of a scorching ash cloud that suddenly descended upon his city along the Bay of Naples, instantly killing all the inhabitants.
They concluded vitrification took place through a unique process of rapid exposure of the brain’s organic material to a very high temperature – at least 510 degrees Celsius (950 degrees Fahrenheit) – and its subsequent rapid cooling.
The researchers conducted an extensive analysis that confirmed the glass nature of the fragments and revealed their physical properties.
“The glass formed as a result of this process allowed for an integral preservation of the biological brain material and its microstructures,” said forensic anthropologist Pier Paolo Petrone of Universita di Napoli Federico II in Italy, one of the leaders of the research published in the journal Scientific Reports.
