The Department of History and the Department of Classics and Ancient History, together with the Centre for the History of Medicine and the Centre for the Study of the Renaissance, are delighted to present 'The New Vesalius', a guest seminar from Honorary Professor Vivian Nutton. The seminar will take place on Wednesday 14th March 2012 at 5pm in MS05 (Maths & Stats Zeeman Building).

Even before its appearance in print in 1543, the De humani corporis fabrica of Andreas Vesalius was regarded as marking a new stage in the understanding of the human body. Its emphasis on human dissection challenged prevailing orthodoxies, while the beauty of its illustrations has ensured its place as the most famous of all anatomy books. A second, enlarged edition followed in 1555, but little further is known about Vesalius, by now an imperial physician, until his death in 1564. The very recent discovery of his hundreds of notes for a never-published third edition, including changes to the plates as well as the text, throws new and unexpected light on his interests and activities after 1555.