1543 - Medicine

Medicine

The Fabric of the Human Body (De humani corporis fabrica) by Belgian anatomist Andreas Vesalius, 29, is the first accurate book on human anatomy. Anatomical education up to now has been based on observations made by the 2nd century physician Galen, who used animals for his study, but Vesalius repudiates Galenism and advances knowledge of biology with his accurate descriptions of bones and the nervous system. Court physician to the emperor Charles V, Vesalius has defied Church opposition to human dissection; his work contains anatomical drawings by the Venetian painter Titian, and when Vesalius presents a copy to his patron, the emperor says that "hitherto, nothing has been composed so eloquent, learned, and useful" (see 1564; Albinus, 1747).