The Andreas Vesalius five hundredth birthday conference
De Humani Corporis Fabrica
Astana, October 6, 2015
Program
Registration and Welcome
15 :30 – 16 :00
Registration and MEDinART video Where Medicine and Art Collide,
from Vasia Hatzi, PhD. Geneticist
16 :00 – 16 :05
Welcome address by Rector of the Medical University of Astana and
Michel Peetermans, Ambassador of Belgium in Kazakhstan
Scientific Session Chaired by the Rector
16:05 – 16:20
Theo Dirix : Brussels 1514 – Zakynthos 1564: a prodigious life, a
tragic demise
16:20 – 16:35
Leonid Karp: Vesalius’ contribution to medicine of critical conditions
16:35 – 16 :50
Johan Focquet: Modern technologies, Orfit Industries
16 :50 – 17 :10
Fabrica Vitae Pilot Film from Anderewereldfilms and Pascale Pollier:
“Genius lives on, all else is mortal.” Unique visions on the future of
humanity and the hitherto “organic carbon man”
17:10 - 17:25
Vivian Nutton: The unquiet anatomist: Vesalius correcting Vesalius
17:25 – 17: 40
Gulzira Sagimova, AndreasVesalius and ‘The Fabric of the Human
Body’
17:40 – 17:55
Discussion
SPEAKERS
In search of Andreas Vesalius – Portraits and other Hoaxes
by Theo Dirix
Summary
Andreas Vesalius did not travel to Jerusalem under pressure of the inquisition, neither as
penance nor escape: he went there as a devout pilgrim with the support of his employer.
Upon his return, he did not die on a deserted beach in the Ionian Sea, the only victim of a
shipwreck. Weakened by his stay in the Holy Land and by an unfortunate return journey, he
died in 1564 in Zakynthos, Greece, and was buried there in the Santa Maria delle Grazie
Church, now destroyed by earthquakes.
What began as a quest for his lost grave, has turned into a crusade against persistent
inaccuracies and stubborn assumptions in Vesalius’s biography.
CV
Theo Dirix has held the office of Consul in Embassies of Belgium in (successively) Tanzania,
Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Canada, the United Arab Emirates and, since 2011, in Greece. Before
1989, he worked for the Flemish Radio 3 and commented on (mainly Moroccan) literature.
He has never stopped writing travel stories, mainly about graves. In 2014, he publishes: “In
search of Andreas Vesalius – The quest for the Lost Grave”
Vesalius’ contribution to medicine of critical conditions
By Leonid Karp
Summary
The history of tracheostomy and intubation of a trachea is quite unique, as throughout 4
millennia (approximately from 2000 BC to the XX century) these methods fell into oblivion,
and then again were rediscovered. Initially they were only revival methods, and only then
began to be applied as planned manipulations when carrying out the artificial ventilation of lungs.
Only in Renaissance the tracheostomy appeared as important medical procedure again. If to
address to written sources of this era, actually the tracheostomy for carrying out IVL was for
the first time described in 1543 by 28-year-old Andreas Vesalius in his monumental 7volume work "About a Structure of a Human Body" which Russian translation occupies
about 2000 pages.
In transformation of a tracheostomy from only resuscitation procedure in planned
manipulation Andreas Vesalius, undoubtedly, is if not the pioneer, then one of the most
main applicants for this discovery.
CV
Leonid Karp graduated from Tselinograd State Medical Institute in 1971, and obtained his
PhD degree at the Institute of Social Hygiene and Health Care Organization in Moscow. His
thesis topic concerned morbidity in rural areas of Northern Kazakhstan.
Since 1974, he has been a professor – and, since 2005, the chair – at the Department of Public
Health in Astana Medical University, where he teaches health care organization and history
of medicine. His main research interests are human development, suicide, sociological
aspects of euthanasia and motor-vehicle traumatism.
He has participated in numerous scientific congresses and seminars and has over 150
scientific publications.
In 2014 Professor Karp was awarded The Best Professor award by the Ministry of Education
and Science of Republic of Kazakhstan.
Orfit Industries owes a lot to Andreas Vesalius
by Johan Focquet
Summary
Orfit Industries owes a lot to Andreas Vesalius. Our core businesses of physical rehabilitation
and radiation oncology patient positioning systems could not have developed into what they
are today without in-depth knowledge of the human anatomy. Vesalius’ care for detail in
describing the human body enables us today to provide medical professionals with
(sub)millimeter-precise positioning solutions for radiotherapy. Occupational and physical
therapists use our thermoplastic splinting materials to achieve the most effective treatments
based on their thorough insight in the human muscular system.
Innovation is as much part of Orfit’s DNA as it was of Andreas Vesalius’ DNA. Innovative
methods and technologies help us in setting new standards in medical care, for which
Belgium is so well known.
CV
Johan Focquet is an experienced European sales and marketing executive. He joined Orfit
Industries NV in 2011 as Export Sales Manager, responsible for managing a network of
distributors in Europe, Central Asia and North Africa. Until then, he held various positions in
the fields of sales and marketing at the European headquarters of Pioneer Corp., a Japanese
multinational in the electronics market.
Being active in an international environment, enables him to combine his professional
objectives with his personal aspirations of meeting new people and learning new cultures.
The unquiet anatomist: Vesalius correcting Vesalius
By Vivian Nutton
Vivian Nutton is emeritus professor of the history of medicine at University College London
as well as professor of the history of medicine at the I.M.Sechenov First Moscow Medical
School. A Fellow of the British Academy as well as of the German Academy of Sciences, he
has published widely on the classical tradition in medicine from the Greeks to the
Renaissance. As well as writing the historical introduction to the Karger translation of
Vesalius, he has recently published essays on two previously unknown collections of notes by
Vesalius for never-published revisions of the Institutiones anatomicae and the Fabrica.
He is at present working on a translation of the Institutiones anatomicae, which throws new
light on Vesalius’ education and on the development of his thought leading up to the writing
of the Fabrica.
His lecture will explain the significance of these new discoveries for our understanding of
Vesalius and his book.
Andreas Vesalius and “The Fabric of the Human Body”
By Gulzira Sagimova
Summary
Andreas Vesalius (1514 – 1564), Renaissance Belgian anatomist, physician and author of one
of the most influential books on human anatomy, who revolutionized the study of biology and
the practice of medicine by his careful description of the anatomy of the human body. Basing
his observations on dissections that he made himself, he wrote and illustrated the first
comprehensive textbook of anatomy. His major work “De humani corporis fabrica libri
septem” (“The Seven Books on the Structure of the Human Body”) commonly known as the
Fabrica, was printed in 1543. In this epochal work, Vesalius deployed all his scientific,
humanistic and aesthetic gifts. The Fabrica was a more extensive and accurate description of
the human body than any put forward by his predecessors; it gave anatomy a new language
and, in the elegance of its printing and organization, a perfection hitherto unknown. Thanks to
his invaluable contribution, Vesalius is often referred to as the founder of modern human
anatomy.
CV
Gulzira Sagimova has been working as a senior teacher of department of Human Anatomy and
Operative Surgery in Medical University Astana since 1991, when she graduated from Tselinograd
State Medical Institute. She researches development of lymphoid tissue of gastrointestinal tract and
has over 50 scientific publications.
SELECTED EXHIBITION OF FILMS AND BOOKS ON DISPLAY
a) Movies
1. Fabrica Vitae Pilot Film from Anderewereldfilms and Pascale Pollier: “Genius
lives on, all else is mortal.” Unique visions on the future of humanity and the
hitherto “organic carbon man”.
Five hundred years after the birth of Andreas Vesalius, the founder of modern
anatomy, a film will show how the legacy of Vesalius is still challenging new
generations of artists and scientists to create groundbreaking work. A group of
contemporary, brilliant scientists and innovative artists will be questioned about
their work and what they perceive the future of “humanity and the physical human
body” to be. It will be fascinating to record their unique visions of man’s mortality,
decay and death. Along with the ecorches of the ‘Fabrica’, the exploration and
‘dissection’ of these pioneering minds will be the backbone of this documentary.
The film will glorify the wonder of corporal anatomy as we know it and will
ponder upon the revolutionary technological physical enhancements which have
transformed and will further change the future of the hitherto “organic carbon
man”.
Brief presentation on the annotated translation in English of the “Fabrica” by Ms
Franziska Suter from Karger Editions Basel
2. MEDinART video Where Medicine and Art Collide, from Vasia Hatzi, PhD.
Geneticist : MEDinART (www.medinart.eu) is a continuously growing global
gallery of artists around the world that communicate through their art aspects of
biomedical sciences. The main goals of this art-network are to connect medicine
with arts, introduce bio-medical inspired art to the broader audience, highlight
biomedical issues through different forms of art, bring together med-inspired
artists and trigger scientists to communicate their research fields using creative and
innovative ways. Today, MEDinART features the work of more than 120
contemporary artists from all around the world.
b) Books
3. The Fabric of the Human Body. An Annotated Translation of the 1543 and
1555 Editions of “De Humani Corporis Fabrica Libri Septem”, by D.H.
Garrison and M.H. Hast. Karger, Basel, 2014 (short version)
Brief presentation on the annotated translation in English of the “Fabrica” by Ms
Franziska Suter from Karger Editions Basel
4. In search of Andreas Vesalius – The quest of the Lost Grave, by Theo Dirix,
Lannoo, 2014
Five hundred years after the birth of Andreas Vesalius, the founder of modern
anatomy, a film will show how the legacy of Vesalius is still challenging new
generations of artists and scientists to create groundbreaking work. A group of
contemporary, brilliant scientists and innovative artists will be questioned about
their work and what they perceive the future of “humanity and the physical human
body” to be. It will be fascinating to record their unique visions of man’s mortality,
decay and death. Along with the écorchés of the ‘Fabrica’, the exploration and
‘dissection’ of these pioneering minds will be the backbone of this documentary.
The film will glorify the wonder of corporal anatomy as we know it and will
ponder upon the revolutionary technological physical enhancements which have
transformed and will further change the future of the hitherto “organic carbon
man”.