As early as 3000 B.C.

Ancient Egyptians
medical/anatomy papyrus scrolls
medical knowledge important in Egyptian society
familiar with internal human anatomy due to mummifications
(remove internal organs)
@490 B.C. Alcmaeon (Italy) and & Empedocles (Sicily) -description of dissected animals

@430 B.C. Hippocrates II (Father of Medicine)

studied human skeletons
observed living humans (both healthy and hurt/ill) without
dissection
wrong about many things, but moved discipline from study
of animals alone, also added physiology
cadaver dissection forbidden in Greek religion

@ 350 B.C. -- Aristole

comparative anatomy (different species)
animal embryology
some advances, but inaccuracies persisted for centuries
because of his status
3rd Century B.C. Alexandria Medical School
1st documented human dissection
nomenclature development
some physiology progress
@150 A.D. Galen (Asia Minor)
130 medical papers, most conclusions based on animal
dissection
Became authoritative source of often incorrect information
for @1500 years; stopped progress in discipline of A&P
Middle Ages Muslim scholars
More detailed descriptions of pulmonary and cardiovascular
systems
Apply scientific method to study of physiology

Middle Ages in the West

Little progress in west due to Galens influence, religion
(emphasis on spiritual, not physical, world; also dissections
prohibited)
15th and 16th centuries Renaissance
Artists, esp. Leonardo da Vinci, study anatomy with
dissections to improve their art
Printing allowed wide distribution of drawings
Scientific method applied esp. Vesalius (founder of modern
anatomy)
Galen finally proved wrong
1628 -- William Harvey
publishes book that argues blood circulates along specific
route
based on multiple animal dissections
cant explain why because oxygen not yet discovered
1661 Marcello Malpighi
discovers capillaries, final discovery in describing major
structures of human body
1674-83 Leeuwenhoek
improves microscope to 300X

 many discoveries in microscopic anatomy, including red

blood cell
1800s
discovery body made up cells
1800s-present -- rapid progress in physiology research
1953 Watson and Crick DNA
advances in biochemistry, technology propel discoveries

Citations:
Muslim info
^ Chairman's Reflections (2004), "Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting", Heart Views 5 (2), p.
74-85 [80].
^ Nahyan A. G. Fancy (2006), "Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine, Philosophy
and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafs (d. 1288)", pp. 224-229, Electronic Theses and Dissertations, University of
Notre Dame.[1]
post Renaissance -- http://www.historyworld.net/wrldhis/PlainTextHistories.asp?groupid=46&HistoryID=aa05
rest -- http://www.scielo.cl/pdf/ijmorphol/v24n1/art18.pdf
Int. J. Morphol.,
24(1):99-104, 2006.

Lessons from History: Human Anatomy, from the Origin to

the Renaissance

Egyptians : http://egyptian-history.suite101.com/article.cfm/ancient_egyptian_medicine
Limits on west in middle ages
http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/full/287/9/1180
JAMA. 2002;287:1180-1181.