'The Heart of Leonardo'

Fri 5 February 2016

Richard Eden Suite

'Naissant anatomy is associated with the work of Vesalius and his masterpiece De Humani Corporis Fabrica published in 1543. This huge event in the life of anatomy began the move away from Galenic principles and teaching, which held sway for 1500 years to that point and indeed beyond. However, Leonardo da Vinci the Tuscan genius of the late cinque cento’s human anatomy is well known and was known about in his time. Sadly none of it was published until more recent times and therefore, its contribution was not recognised. I have had the great good fortune to be able to spend considerable time with the drawings that he did of the heart, along with their accompanying notes. The more I studied them the more obvious it became to me that Leonardo had a very profound understanding of the physiology, as well as much of the anatomy. The lecture will draw upon this experience and also present the results of some work that I did in reproducing all of Leonardo’s dissections on the heart.'

Cost: Free