In 1540 he began working on a book called De Humini Corporus Fabrica- The Structure of the Human Body. The book was based largely on human dissection, and transformed anatomy into a subject that relied on observations taken directly from human dissections. It was a masterful work with beautiful illustrations based on dissections that he performed. This book had over 700 pages and seven volumes. There were over 270 illustrations in the book of our human body. Volume one presents Vesalius' observations on human bones and cartilage. It covers the physical appearance of human bones and the differentiation of human bones and cartilage by function. In volume two, he had illustration of muscle men i.e ligaments and muscles. The muscle men were figures…show more content… This book was the foundation of modern anatomy. It was different than Galen’s and Hippocrates’ works because he reported what he actually saw versus what he wanted to see. He also said that there was no bone at the bottom of the heart, the sternum only has three parts, the heart’s septum is does not have holes, the origin of the vena cava is the heart, there is no rete mirabile, men and women have the same amount of ribs, and men and women have equal number of teeth. All those things were different from what Galen said.
Vesalius’ work in the Fabrica transformed the way anatomy is to be studied through actual observation. His work highlighted the important differences between species and helped to drive study comparative anatomy, in which researchers studied animals to find their similarities and differences. In the process, they gradually began to recognize humans as being one species among many, with a few unique traits but many others shared in common with other…show more content… His father, Andries vanWesele, was personal pharmacist to the court of Margaret of Austria. His mother, Isabel Crabbe, raised her children in a prosperous home situated in a respectable neighborhood near the Coudenberg Palace, convenient for her husband’s work.
He enrolled at the Louvian College at age 15 and graduated with an arts degree in 1532, and he was accepted to University of Paris’ Medical School. At the Paris Medical School, the teachings were based on the works of Galen of Pergamon, an Ancient Greek physician. Most Galen’s anatomical observations came from animal dissections (mainly apes) because it was considered a taboo to dissect humans in his era. When he left Paris he wanted to dissect human bodies to learn more about them, so he stole the cadaver from an executed criminal to work on. He went to the University of Padua to get his doctorate. He got his doctorate just before his 23 birthday. He became the Professor of Anatomy and Surgery at the University of Padua, and in his second year teaching there he wrote a book called Tabulae anatomicae sex. In this book, instead of showing exactly what he had observed in his dissections and stating what was wrong with Galen’s information, he made concessions to tradition. In 1539, his supply of dissection material increased when a Paduan judge became interested in Vesalius' work, and made bodies of executed criminals available to him. Vesalius was now
