1515-1559

Italian Anatomist, Physician, and Professor

Realdo Colombo was one of the first European scientists to clearly describe the pulmonary circulation, or passage of blood between the heart and the lungs. Columbo, the son of an apothecary, was born in Cremona, Italy. He served as an apprentice to a surgeon for seven years before be began his studies of medicine and anatomy at the University of Padua in 1540 with Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564), the founder of modern anatomy. When Vesalius left the university in 1543, Colombo became professor of surgery. Colombo was an excellent anatomist, as well as an influential scientist and teacher. Colombo carried out many systematic dissections on both living animals and human cadavers. However, he seems to have exaggerated the number of dissections that he performed and he was quite critical of the work of others, including Vesalius. Indeed, Columbo was one of...