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Vesalius was born to a family of physicians in Brussels, Belgium. His mother is Isabella Crabbe and his father is Andries Van Wesele. The real name that he was born with was André Wesele Crabbe. His father and grandfather both served as physicians for the Holy Roman Emperor.
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This is the life of Andreas Vesalius, the anatomist who is known as "the Father of Anatomy".
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After returning to Louvain, he earns his bachelor's degree in medicine. His professors were Leonard Willemaers, Arnold Noots, and Joannes Armenterianus. He then came to the University of Pradua. After getting his doctorate in medicine, he becomes a professor on Anatomy and Surgery.
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Vesalius publishes "A Paraphrase of the Ninth Book of Rhazes", which translated and summarized another book written by Rhazes or al-Rasi, who was a physician in the 10th century. Vesalius worked to translate some of the old Arabic terms to Latin terms.
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This essay is known as the "Venesection Letter". Venesection is another word for bloodletting, a treatment that required "letting blood out". The essay described the veins that drew blood from the side of the torso, thich led to William Harvey's discovery of blood circulating through the body.
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The Paduan judge provided bodies of executed criminals for Vesalius to dissect because the judge became interested in his work. Vesalius started performing public dissections to show that we should preperly examine how a person's body looks like, including the inner organs. Another scientist known as Galen (see left) dissected animals and only used that to describe human bodies. Vesalius' ideas "overcame" Galen's ideas on anatomy.
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Vesalius publishes "The Opera Galeni", which revises the works of Galen. Galen was a Greek physician and although he was interested in human anatomy, there was a Roman law forbidding the dissection of humans, so he could only dissect pigs and primates and assume the human organ systems. The image on the left is a book today that reproduced one of Galen's works.
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Vaselius publishes "De Humani Corporis Fabrica", a book that discusses dissecting the human body. It also discusses anatomy as observations on the structure of the human body. It is also known simply as "Fabrica" and is known today as the first scientific book to be published about Anatomy. He wrote this book to persuade others that anatomy was the foundation of all other sciences.
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Vesalius later serves Philip II, who is Charles V's son. He serves him until his death. His job was to act as a military surgeon.
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He published "De Humani Corporis Fabrica Epitome" or simply the "Epitome" specifically for anatomy students. It has scientifically accurate and superb illustrations of the human body and the internal organ systems. Interestingly, as you flip through the book, the illustrations show the process of dissection. The first page shows the body whole and the next pages, with the skin and muscles removed and so on until the the illustration becomes only a skeleton.
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Epistola on the China Root is actually a letter that Vaselius sends to Joachim Roelants. He tells Roelants that the China Root, also known as chobchini (see left) was an herb that can help treat syphilus. Later, Vesalius' brother Franciscus receives a copy of the letter and sends it to Joannes Oporinus, who publishes it.
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"An Examination of Gabrielle Fallopio’s Anatomical Observations" is published. Fallopio was an important Italian physician and doctor in the 16th century.
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Andreas Vesalius passes away on the Greek island Zankynthos when returning home from his trip to the Holy land.
