Andreas Vesalius

Students and parents often ask us about the origins of the name of the College. "Vesalius" was selected because the man behind the name was one of the premier freethinkers of the Renaissance, and as such, makes clear the intellectual link between the College and its partner institution, the Vrije Universiteit Brussel. Both the College and the University adhere to the principle of liberal inquiry, unfettered by prejudice deriving from religion, race, gender, or political ideology. Andreas Vesalius embodied this ideal in a unique way in the sixteenth century. 

Born in Brussels around 1515, Vesalius was to become a pioneer of modern medicine, as evident in his crowning achievement, the first treatise of scientific anatomy, the De humani corporis fabrica libri septem, published in 1543 and meticulously illustrated with 323 woodcuts.

Yet throughout his career, he had struggled against the received wisdom of previously undoubted authorities, not least of which were the teachings of the second century physician Galen, and the reluctance of universities and the Church to permit the dissection of human bodies–a necessary prerequisite for the scientific study of the human body. Only the boldest of medical minds risked attempting such research, and Vesalius was the foremost among contemporary physicians to do so.

To the end, he remained unflagging in his quest to overcome any and all obstacles in his search for knowledge. Thus, as a personification of the spirit of free inquiry and active teaching, it is altogether fitting that this Humanist freethinker has lent his name to Vesalius College.