User:AmoboTeCatus/Medical Renaissance

Medical Renaissance

Andreas Vesalius (1514–1564)

Andreas Vesalius was born in 1514 around midnight in Brussles that was once part of Habsburg, Netherlands to a long linage of doctors. His father was also an apothecary to Charles V .He would be born into the period of The Revival of Learning. This meant old methods were being obsolete and slow enlightenment of science in that time. This was after the Dark Ages (historiography) which was the period of the Black Plague. The Renaissance was a transition into the modern world. He gained an interest in anatomy at a young age and began dissecting mice, moles, cats, and dogs. Vesalius pick up from the work of Galen (129–c. 200 CE) for which Galen researched was mostly based on the dissection of animals from pigs to apes. The works of Galen would be accepted until Vesalius. He would challenge the medieval views of human anatomy made by Galen that has been taught for centuries. Vesalius paved he foundation of modern anatomy and that most of his ideas are accepted today.

Vesalius went to school at Louvain and would enter the university there. His education was majorly taught by Humanistic teachers. Vesalius spent many hours in cemeteries in the burial ground of the Church of the Innocents in Paris to study the bones that were misplaced from improper burial.Eventually, Vesalius and his friend would steal one complete skeleton from the gallows, this was the first one Vesalius was able to assemble to completely. He would go on to befriend judges and doctors to gain access to human bodies to be able to dissect those who have just died which would start rumors that connected Vesalius to Vivisection.Vesalius did want the most recent deceased cadavers and vivisection was very frowned upon back then and currently. Vesalius eventually became a Doctor of Medicine at the age of 22 and noticed that many of his hands on experience and finding with the cadavers contradicted what Galen's teachings to the point he would discarded all of his teachings. His students grew to be devoted followers and because of the ideas in anatomy that they would go grave robbing with Vesalius especially if a female was involved.

He wrote around 14 books on his finding in anatomy and published his most known book De humani corporis fabrica at the age of 28 in 1543. It was revolutionary because of the accuracy and precision of many organs and would remove Galen's belief that human anatomy is closely related to apes.The book was a dedication to Charles V. Vesalius published De humani corporis fabrica at the age of 28. With him being so young, it made his contributions harder to accept. Fabrica is a milestone in medical science as it detailed many aspects of the human cadaver as well as presenting it in a form of art. Its imagery was presented in medieval gothic style art and an example of his work there is a picture of a dissected corpse hung by a rope through its eye sockets with the upper diaphragm on a wall behind the corpse. The book gave clear identification of the organs in the human body while also removing the aspects that he found flawed with Galen's teachings.

Vesalius was an important part of the Medical Renaissance. Without the knowledge from Vesalius, many today could possibly still believe the inaccurate teachings of Galen. Vesalius will forever be remember in medical history books and as the father of modern anatomy.