Andreas Vesalius (1515-1564): at the crossroads of origination and formation of new principles of world perception

Abstract

The main stages o f the personal and career ascent of one o f the brightest representatives o f the Middle Ages, the founder o f the scientific direction in anatomy - Andreas Vesalius, are analyzed. His personality is viewed in the context o f the formation o f humanism ideas, dis­ coveries that have changed the course of history, prominent representatives o f the Renaissance, who influenced the formation o f this outstanding personality. Return to the antiquity ideals, i.e. to the Renaissance humanistic principles, has been shown to open the opportunity fo r th e establishment o f a number o f scientific centers and the concentration of real intellectuals o f that time in them. The universalism o f their thinking enabled the emergence o f a new mental­ ity and styles in art, painting, science. Andreas Vesalius, who grew up under the influence of these figures at the crossroads o f the most progressive ideas o f the epoch, belonged to such figures, and he himself became a great scientist.