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Matteo Realdo Colombo (c. 1516-1559) was one of the great anatomists and teachers of the Renaissance period. He has created a lasting reputation by both challenging incorrect medical convention and influencing the great artwork of the time. Although Colombo's contemporaries are often held in greater esteem, the accomplishments of this anatomist helped set the stage for modern medicine. The story of Colombo's life provides the modern surgeons and anatomist with valuable lessons regarding the nature of orthodoxy, conflict, and the evolving nature of "truth" in science.
THE LIFE AND WORK of Matteo Realdo Colombo (c. 1516-1559) (Fig. 1) reflect the cultural upheavals occurring during the Renaissance. Born in an era where distinctions were blurred and orthodoxies destroyed, Colombo created a lasting reputation by both challenging incorrect medical convention and influencing the great artwork of the time. Although Colombo's contemporaries are often held in greater esteem, the accomplishments of this anatomist helped set the stage for modern medicine.
Colombo was born in the Northern Italian city of Cremona but moved throughout the region during his education. Colombo completed his liberal arts education in Milan before his family moved to Venice. It was here that Colombo began his surgical training in 1533. Colombo's father worked as an apothecary for the Venetian surgeon Giovanni Antonio Lonigo, and Colombo practiced the surgical craft under Lonigo's tutelage for 7 years before deciding to study medicine. In 1540, Colombo left Venice to study anatomy at the acclaimed University of Padua, where he was instructed, coincidentally, by another apothecary's son: the great Belgian anatomist Andreas Vesalius, who held the University's Chair of Anatomy.
Colombo proved to be one of Vesalius' most talented dissectors. In fact, Vesalius appointed the former surgeon as his prosector, and in 1541, Colombo became Vesalius' assistant. Colombo quickly ascended within academia after his teacher's departure. Vesalius traveled from Padua to Basel, Switzerland in 1543 to assist in the publication of his monumental text, De Humani Corporis Fabrica, and Colombo was temporarily awarded the departmental Chair in his instructor's absence. In 1544, Vesalius informed the University that he would be leaving academia permanently, and Colombo was therefore awarded Chairmanship of the Anatomy Department on a more stable basis. Vesalius would go on to serve in the court of...