Leonardo Botallo

Leonardo Botallo (1530 to about 1587) was an Italian anatomist born in Asti into a noble family, remembered in the eponymous foramen Botalli and ductus Botalli of the fetal heart, although the article says both are now thought to be wrongly attributed to him because they were added in posthumous editions of his work. He studied at the University of Pavia, graduating in medicine around 1543 with lessons from Gabriele Falloppio, and practised under a brother who was professor of surgery there. He then served French nobility and around 1550 became counsellor to King Henry II. His adoption of bloodletting drew criticism from French physicians such as Bonaventure Grangier and Jacques Poms. His 1560 treatise De curandis vulneribus sclopettorum examined gunshot wounds and questioned the view that they should be treated as poisoned. He may have been the first to describe a persistent foramen ovale after birth.