Andreas Vesalius

The magnificent De humani corporis fabrica of Andreas Vesalius was published in 1543, fifty years after Leonardo’s drawings.

De humani corporis fabrica was one of the first anatomy texts to systemically provide descriptions derived from actual dissection of the human body.

Its brilliantly detailed drawing represented a break with the scholastic model of the body based on the work of Galen.

Born in Brussels in 1514 December 31, Vesalius studied medicine at Louvain, in his native Belgium, before travelling to France.

Vesalius claimed to have dissected, boiled and reassembled his first skeleton from the corpse of an executed criminals stolen from a gibbet.

He then moved to Padua near Venice where he was awarded a doctorate in medicine. He was appointed Professor of Surgery at the age of twenty three, Vesalius then began anatomical teaching in earnest.

Andreas Vesalius was the first modern anatomist who based his anatomical description on personal observation.

The kidney was fascinating organ to Vesalius, whose function, particularly regarding the production of urine, he did not fully grasp.

He died in Zante in 1564.
Andreas Vesalius