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One of Harvey’s key discoveries was that the valves in the veins, described so accurately by his teacher Fabricius, are one-way systems, which allow blood to flow only towards the heart, and that this blood must originate as arterial blood, which is pumped away from the heart and travels through tiny capillaries linking the arterial and venous systems to enter the veins.

But perhaps Fallopio’s greatest contribution to anatomy was his role as the teacher of Girolamo Fabrizio, who became known as Hieronymous Fabricius ab Aquapendente, and succeeded Fallopio to the chair in Padua when Fallopio died.

Fabricius was born on 20 May 1537, in the town of Aquapendente, and graduated from Padua in 1559.

He worked as a surgeon and taught anatomy privately until he was appointed to the chair in Padua in 1565—the post had been left vacant for three years following Fallopio’s death, so Fabricius was Fallopio’s direct successor, in spite of the gap.

It was during this gap that Vesalius opened negotiations to take up the post, and if it hadn’t been for his ill-fated trip to Jerusalem he would probably have got the job ahead of Fabricius.