Andreas Vesalius

• Andreas Vesalius

  The most famous anatomist of the Renaissance
• Andreas Vesalius

  • Improved the existing understanding of anatomy
  • Challenged the ideas of the ancient Greek physician Galen
  • Encouraged the discovery of more new ideas about the human body and medicine
• Work of Vesalius

  1. Studied in Paris where humanist ideas about medicine were popular

  2. Became a lecturer in surgery at the University of Padua

  3. Carried out a large number of dissections using the bodies of executed criminals

  4. Made discoveries that corrected Galen's assumptions about the human body
• Dissection had previously been viewed as extremely indecent and blasphemous, but it was no longer banned because the power of the Church was decreasing
• Vesalius was able to carry out a large number of dissections because a local magistrate allowed him to use the bodies of executed criminals
• Vesalius noticed that Galen had made some incorrect assumptions about the human body, as Galen had been unable to dissect human corpses and had based his ideas on dissections of animals
• Vesalius made the following discoveries: the human jaw has one bone, not two; the human breastbone has three parts, not seven; blood does not flow into the heart through invisible holes in the septum but is 'diffused' through it
• In 1543, Vesalius published the details of his dissections in a book called 'On the Fabric of the Human Body'
• Vesalius' discoveries led to an improved understanding of the human body, and his book was used to train physicians across Europe, including in England
• Doctors were encouraged to carry out dissections themselves and carefully observe the human body rather than relying on old books