Inventions by Andreas Vesalius

Andreas Vesalius of Belgium invented the study of modern human anatomy. He wrote the first textbook of human anatomy which challenged longstanding beliefs based on animal dissections, according to ThinkQuest.org.

Dissections

• Vesalius graduated with a medical degree from the University of Padua in 1537, performed dissections as a lecturer in anatomy and surgery, and published his illustrated lecture charts in 1538. He realized that a physician could only gain actual knowledge about human anatomy by performing human dissections, according to Faqs.org.

Textbook of Anatomy

• In 1543, Vesalius published "De Humani Corporis Fabrica," the first textbook of human anatomy, which consisted of seven volumes containing more than 300 drawings by Johann Kalkar, a student of Titian. Vesalius correctly described the anatomy of the heart for the first time in history. He was 28 when his book was published.

Controversy

• The textbook was immediately controversial because it contradicted the widely held beliefs of Galen, the ancient Greek-Roman physician whose teachings had been church doctrine for almost 14 centuries, according to ThinkQuest. Galen based his theories on animal, not human, dissections.