Scientist Concludes Scientists Don’t Know Jack

What killed Mozart? Well, apparently nobody knows. The world-renowned composer died in 1791 at the age of 35. Since then, literally hundreds of theories have emerged about what killed him.

Scientist Lucien Karhausen writes in British Medical Journal after analyzing hundreds of scientific papers on the subject. Following a close examination of the relevant material, he identified more than 140 separate conditions that scientists proposed as the cause of death. He concludes “most, if not all” of the explanations must be wrong, since Mozart only died once.

Karhausen finds that the explanations for his death have grown more outlandish with time. Since his death, scientists have identified 27 distinct psychiatric conditions as present in the composer.