Tag Archives: Andreas Vesalius

The rebirth of medicine

January 30, 2017

Constantina Pitsillides Hull, United Kingdom   Introduction  Andreas Vesalius De humani corporis fabrica, 1543 page 190 The great scientific advances of Western medicine trace their roots to the Renaissance, the period of thought that rejected medieval monasticism and rediscovered the cultures that preceded it. The ancient Egyptians and Greeks had some notions on how the […]

Redefining the medical artist

January 22, 2017

Meena Malhotra Chicago, Illinois, USA   Medical illustration is a long-standing tradition that dates back to the sixteenth-century anatomist and physician Andreas Vesalius. In his preface to his book, De humani corporis fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body), Vesalius commented on the value of images and dissection in learning anatomy: How much pictures […]

In pursuit of a new anatomy

January 22, 2017

Roseanne F. Zhao Chicago, Illinois, United States   (Left) Standing figure–muscle plate from De humani corporis fabrica, libri septum, Basile: 1543 by Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564) (Right) The bones, muscles and tendons of the hand, c.1510-11–pen and ink with wash, over black chalk, 28.8 x 20.2cm, from Anatomical Manuscript A by Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519). The […]

Vesalius: spirit of excellence and inquiry

January 22, 2017

JMS Pearce  United Kingdom   An image from De Fabrica This brief sketch is offered to commemorate the 500th birthday of Andreas Vesalius and the beginnings of post-Renaissance anatomy. Few men are more deserving of lasting fame than Vesalius. The prime importance of his anatomy is irrefutable. The current decline in anatomy teaching has provoked trenchant […]

Vesalius in Pisa

January 22, 2017

Gianfranco Natale Rosalba Ciranni Paola Lenzi Pisa, Italy   Andreas Vesalius was born in 1514 in Bruxelles and studied in Paris but graduated in Padua. He published De humani corporis fabrica in 1543, and then spent time conducting anatomical dissections in Bologna, Pisa, and Florence before becoming the private physician of Emperor Charles V. The […]

The revolution of Andreas Vesalius

January 22, 2017

Fabio Zampieri Alberto Zanatta Padua, Italy     Portrait of Vesalius from De Humani Corporis Fabrica Born in Brussels in 1514, Andreas Vesalius studied Latin, Greek, and Hebrew in Leuven, and medicine in Paris. Arriving in Padua, at that time “the most famous gymnasium in the world,” he graduated in medicine in 1537 and was […]

Neuroanatomy: a transition in understanding and observation

January 22, 2017

Charlene Ong St.Louis, Missouri, United States   Western medicine’s understanding of neuroanatomy over the last several millennia has reflected the dynamic cultural values and social norms regarding the human body and its function. The journey that culminated in accurate and reproducible representations of the brain required a tolerance of human inquiry, advances in preservation technology, […]

Andreas Vesalius’ audience speaks out

January 19, 2017

Angela Belli Queens, New York, United States   Andreas Vesalius’ The Fabric of the Human Body marks not only a milestone in medical history but, by virtue of its extraordinary illustrations, offers ample evidence of medicine and art complementing each other. The frontispiece of the work, depicting an audience witnessing a dissection performed by Vesalius, […]