Andreas Vesalius (Latinized from Andries van Wezel) (31 December 1514 – 15 October 1564) was a 16th-century anatomist, physician, and author of one of the most influential books on human anatomy, De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem (On the fabric of the human body in seven books), a major advance over the long-dominant work of Galen. Vesalius is often referred to as the founder of modern human anatomy. He was born in Brussels, which was then part of the Habsburg Netherlands. He was a professor at the University of Padua (1537–1542) and later became Imperial physician at the court of Emperor Charles V. Andreas Vesalius is the Latinized form of the Dutch name Andries van Wesel. It was a common practice among European scholars in his time to Latinize their names. His name is also given as Andrea Vesalius, André Vésale, Andrea Vesalio, Andreas Vesal, Andrés Vesalio and Andre Vesale. Early life and education Vesalius was born as Andries van Wesel to his father Anders van Wesel and mother Isabel Crabbe on 31 December 1514 in Brussels, which was then part of the Habsburg Netherlands. His great-grandfather, Jan van Wesel, probably born in Wesel, received a medical degree from the University of Pavia and taught medicine at the University of Leuven. His grandfather, Everard van Wesel, was the Royal Physician of Emperor Maximilian, whilst his father, Anders van Wesel, served as apothecary to Maximilian and later valet de chambre to his successor, Charles V. Anders encouraged his son to continue in the family tradition and enrolled him in the Brethren of the Common Life in Brussels to learn Greek and Latin prior to learning medicine, according to standards of the era. In 1528 Vesalius entered the University of Leuven (Pedagogium Castrense) taking arts, but when his father was appointed as the Valet de Chambre in 1532 he decided instead to pursue a career in the military at the University of Paris, where he moved in 1533. There he studied the theories of Galen under the auspices of Johann Winter von Andernach, Jacques Dubois (Jacobus Sylvius) and Jean Fernel. It was during that time that he developed an interest in anatomy and was often found examining excavated bones in the charnel houses at the Cemetery of the Innocents. He is said to have constructed his first skeleton by stealing from a gibbet. Vesalius was forced to leave Paris in 1536 owing