Father of modern anatomy, Vesalius was born in Brussels, and came from a family of doctors and pharmacists. He studied medicine in Paris in 1533, then taught anatomy and surgery at the University of Padua (Italy), from 1537.
His attraction to anatomy led him to dig up human bodies in cemeteries to study them directly. His work led him to identify the errors of great Greek physicians, such as Galen. It demonstrates, for example, that the lower jaw of man consists of a single bone, contrary to what was accepted before this discovery. Dissection (opening the parts of a body to examine it) led him to clarify the anatomical knowledge of the human body. Vesalius wrote, between 1537 and 1544, his major work called De humani corporis fabrica (On how the human body works ):his texts are accompanied by remarkable anatomical plates resulting from his direct observations.
Becoming one of the doctors of the Emperor Charles V in Spain, and of his son Philip II, André Vesalius made a trip to Jerusalem to 1564. His boat is wrecked on a Greek island while returning to Venice, leading to the death of Vesalius.
1514 - 1564
Status
Anatomist
Doctor