“Andreas Vesalius is one of the most important figures in the history of anatomy. He was the author of De Humani Corpis Fabrica (On the Fabric of the Human Body), a beautiful and revolutionary Renaissance study of human body. Born in Brussels, Vesalius was educated as a physician, and eventually became a teacher of surgery and anatomy. As a young student, Vesalius was so fascinated by the human anatomy that he stole the body of an executed criminal from a scaffold, taking it home to study the amazing structure of the body.”** “Vesalius’ work represented the culmination of the humanistic revival of ancient learning, the introduction of human dissections into medical curricula, and the growth of a European anatomical literature. Vesalius performed his dissections with a thoroughness hitherto unknown. After Vesalius, anatomy became a scientific discipline, with far-reaching implications not only for physiology but for all of biology.
During his own lifetime, however, Vesalius found it easier to correct points of Galenic anatomy than to challenge his physiological framework.”***
