Andreas Vesalius

Vesalius, Andreas 

Born Dec. 31, 1514, in Brussels; died Oct. 15, 1564, island of Zante. Renaissance naturalist; founder of scientific anatomy.

Vesalius studied medicine at Montpellier, then Paris. In 1537 he received the degree of doctor of surgery at Basel. From 1539 he taught anatomy at the University of Padua (northern Italy). Vesalius illustrated his teaching of anatomy by dissecting cadavers. In the work On the Structure of the Human Body, published in Basel (1543), he gave a description of the human body based on his own research. This work by Vesalius became the scientific basis for modern anatomy. He rejected Galen’s teachings on the system of the movement of blood in the organism. Galen’s teachings had prevailed for 14 centuries and had been canonized by the church; they served as the basis for the subsequent discovery of blood circulation by W. Harvey.

Among Vesalius’ other works are Anatomical Notebooks (1538) and Letters on Bloodletting (1539). Vesalius contributed a great deal to creating new terminology and making old terms more precise. Vesalius’ denial of Galen’s authority and his conflict with the church made many enemies for him. Driven to despair, he burned some of his manuscripts and materials and accepted an offer to move to Madrid as court physician to Charles V. His enemies forced a trial by the Inquisition, which sentenced him to a pilgrimage to Palestine. On the way back, Vesalius, already ill, was shipwrecked and cast on the island of Zante, where he died.

WORKS

O stroenii chelovecheskogo tela, vols. 1-2. Moscow, 1950-54. (Translated from Latin.)

REFERENCES

Kupriianov, V. V. A. Vezaliiv istoriianatomii imeditsiny. Moscow, 1964. (Bibliography.)
Ternovskii. V. N. A. Vezalii (1514-1564). Moscow, 1965. (Bibliography.)

M. M. LEVIT