Andreas Vesalius: Figures from GCSE History

Andreas Vesalius Facts

Summary: Born in Brussels, Vesalius followed in his grandfather’s and father’s footsteps to become a physician. 
Born: 31st December 1514
Died: 15th June 1564
Books: On the Fabric of the Human Body
Biggest achievements: Vesalius’ use of dissection enabled him to prove his anatomical discoveries and demonstrated the errors in Galen’s work on the human anatomy.

Who was Andreas Vesalius?

Andreas Vesalius was born on 31st December 1514 in Brussels, now in modern-day Belgium. Brussels was part of the Holy Roman Empire. Around the same time as Vesalius’ birth, the empire was experiencing change. Martin Luther’s criticism of the Catholic Church divided the empire. Whilst the ruling family of the empire was strictly Catholic, many cities of the north, such as Strasbourg and Frankfurt, embraced the ideas of Protestantism. 

Andreas Vesalius’ education and early life

Vesalius was born into a family of medics. His grandfather was the Royal Physician to the Holy Roman Emperor, Maximillian I. Vesalius’ father served as an apothecary to Maximillian and the next emperor, Charles V. 

In 1533 - 1536, Vesalius began his medical studies at the University of Paris. The course taught Vesalius the science of dissection. During the majority of his education, Vesalius dissected animals. Pope Clement VII only accepted the practice of dissection to teach anatomy in 1537. However, 16th-century France was somewhat open-minded to the concept of human dissection. The University of Paris conducted the first authorised human dissection in 1407 and the university had access to a small number of human bodies during Vesalius’ studies. This did not fulfil his curiosity about anatomy. He often visited Paris’ cemeteries to study bones. Vesalius even stole an executed body to complete his first human skeleton. Grave robbing was a distasteful but necessary aspect of Vesalius’ study of anatomy.

Unfortunately, Vesalius was unable to complete his degree at the University of Paris due to the Holy Roman Empire declaring war on France. In 1537, Vesalius completed his doctorate at the University of Padua in Italy. Padua valued the study of anatomy and encouraged dissection. Immediately after graduation, the university invited Vesalius to be the head of surgery and anatomy. This demonstrates the talent he possessed in dissection. In January 1540, Vesalius performed a dissection in front of an audience at the University of Bologna. This went against tradition. Physicians did not perform their own dissections. They read from medical texts whilst someone else dissected the body. Vesalius strongly believed physicians should conduct dissection to advance their medical knowledge.

Andreas Vesalius’ contribution to medicine

In 1543, Vesalius published his most famous book, called On the Fabric of the Human Body. This was a collection of his anatomical discoveries and detailed drawings of the body. To collect this information, Vesalius required more human bodies to dissect. In 1539, a Paduan judge was so impressed with his work, he allowed Vesalius to dissect all executed criminals. This gave Vesalius the necessary numbers to compare discoveries and prove, beyond doubt, that his anatomical discoveries were correct.

What did Andreas Vesalius discover?

On the Fabric of the Human Body noted roughly 300 mistakes that Galen made in human anatomy. This included that the lower jaw was in one part, not two and that the left kidney was not lower than the right. Galen’s knowledge of the anatomy was based on dissecting apes, not humans. Unsurprisingly, when his observations were applied to humans, they were inaccurate. 

Impact of Andreas Vesalius’ work

Soon after the publication of On the Fabric of the Human Body, Vesalius presented the book to the Holy Roman Emperor, Charles V. The emperor was so impressed that he employed Vesalius as his physician. Vesalius accepted and resigned from his post at the University of Padua. This carried on the family tradition of working for the emperor. He accompanied the royal family in their travels across Europe and, in 1555, he provided medical care to Philip II of Spain, Charles V’s son. 

Vesalius’ impact went beyond his lifetime. The University of Padua embraced Vesalius’ work and incorporated it into their teaching. William Harvey attended Padua and was taught Vesalius’ theories. Harvey went on to extend the understanding of the human body through his work on the circulatory system. This shows Vesalius’ influence on the growing knowledge of human anatomy.

Andreas Vesalius’ Death

The circumstances around Vesalius’ death are intriguing. In 1564, Vesalius went on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land to ask for forgiveness. He was accused of performing a dissection on a live body. It is believed the rumour came from Hubert Languet, a diplomat for Charles V. The victim was said to be a Spanish nobleman, whose heart was still beating whilst Vesalius continued to conduct an autopsy on him. The pilgrimage was said to be a punishment from King Philip II of Spain. 

Extreme weather plagued his return journey. He is said to have been taken ill and pronounced dead on 15th June 1564, when he was shipwrecked on the island of Zakynthos. At the time, this was part of the Republic of Venice but it is now in Greece. Vesalius died with so much debt that his estate could not afford a funeral. Due to his reputation, his funeral was paid for by an admirer of his work.