Renaissance Key Individuals

• Andreas Vesalius

  • 1543 - 'The Fabric of the Human Body'
  • performed dissections himself, proving Galen's ideas wrong who dissected animals not humans
  • this proved need for direct observation and experimentation
  • included fugitive sheets which helped medical students
  • encouraged doctors to question dated beliefs
• William Harvey

  • 1628 - 'The Motion of the Heart'
  • proved that blood circulates in one direction, heart was the pump
  • more impactful later on, when his books appeared in universities and proved to be a vital breakthrough which helped progress in transfusions, surgery and organ transplants
• Ambroise Pare

  • French battlefield surgeon
  • during battle, ran out of oil for cauterisation, and mixed rose oil, egg white and turpentine to create a salve that inflicted less pain
  • revived ligatures by tying arteries instead of cauterising
  • influenced others, like William Clowes and made surgery safer and more humane
• John Hunter

  • 1768, joined the Company of Surgeons and trained doctors in scientific methos of observation and dissection
  • collected over 3000 anatomical specimens
  • work became foundation of modern surgery and anatomy