It's March 7, 1981. Joseph Paul Jernigan is a mechanic from Kane, Illinois. He is not a particularly significant man, nor is he particularly intelligent or compassionate. The fact that he couldn't effectively steal a microwave oven from 75-year-old Edward Hale is proof that he lacked brains. The fact that he stabbed Hale with a kitchen knife before shooting him three times (cite{texas}) with a shotgun is evidence of his lack of compassion, footnote{originally he left with the microwave, without scott - but later returned because he thought Hale would be able to identify him (cite{rothman}). Really not a smart guy}.\For his crimes, he was sentenced to death by lethal injection. He spent 12 years on death row. . During this time, medical imaging modalities such as MRI had become very popular in medicine, and the microwave oven had become inexpensive and common in households. After a series of failed appeals, Jernigan is thought to have been persuaded to donate his body to medical science by a prison chaplain, who said he would provide him with a free funeral (cite{murderpedia}). Little did he know that his decision would make him one of the most famous corpses in history. A team from the National Library of Medicine, led by Michael J. Ackerman, was tasked with developing a method to accurately visualize a complete human body in 3 dimensions. They had spent the last 2 years searching for a suitable corpse and Jernigan was now their best hope. He was of average weight, height and build and his body had not been damaged by disease or accident. His last meal was a hamburger and fries, which he refused. He didn't say the last words. But on August 5, 1993, Joseph Paul Jernigan became immortal.section{Imagining the Corpse}The... middle of the paper......t from the knowledge gained in these images is absurd'}, which commits the mortal sin of writing angry letters equating facts with beliefs. Regardless of your personal views on the death penalty, it is a mistake to imply that the use of executed cadavers in medical research supports the practice in any way. A corpse is a corpse and if it is not used it still rots. Yet, in the eyes of some, it is more respectful to throw the corpse into the ground than to honor the request of a dying man. \On that note, cite{rothman} seems to suggest that Jernigan, in fact, hoped to become famous. One former cellmate stated that he "wanted his family to be able to sell his life story for a true crime book"}. While I doubt Jernigan had medical imaging in mind, in some roundabout way, he became famous after all.