Hieronymus Fabricius

Hieronymus Fabricius, also known as Girolamo Fabrici d'Acquapendente or Girolamo Fabrizio, lived from 1533 to 1619 and was a pioneering anatomist and surgeon known in medical science as the Father of Embryology. Born in Acquapendente in Latium, he studied at the University of Padua, took his medical degree in 1559 under Gabriele Falloppio, and in 1565 succeeded Falloppio as professor of surgery and anatomy there. In 1594 he designed the first permanent theatre for public anatomical dissections. By dissecting animals he investigated the formation of the fetus and the structure of the esophagus, stomach, intestines, eye, ear and larynx, and in 1603 he was the first to fully describe the valves in the veins. His pupils included William Harvey, who deduced the circulation of the blood. The bursa of Fabricius, a site of blood-cell formation in birds, is named after him, and his writings describe the surgical technique of tracheotomy.