Cesalpino, Andrea

(1525-1603)

   Italian physician and botanist, born at Arezzo and educated at Pisa, where he studied both anatomy and botany. In 1565 he became director of the botanical garden at Pisa, and in 1569 he was appointed professor of medicine. He moved to Rome in 1592 as professor of medicine and personal physician to Pope Clement VIII. His medical publications show him to be a confirmed supporter of the traditional authority of Aristotle, but also to be eager to discover new ways to apply Aristotelian principles to scientific problems. His most original work was in botany. His De plantis libri XVI/Sixteen Books on Botany (1583) followed the classification principles of Aristotle and his disciple Theophrastus. Surprisingly for the work of a physician, this botanical book provided no illustrations and rarely discussed medicinal applications. He seems to have coined the phrase "circulation of the blood," and his discussion of that topic vaguely foreshadows the subsequent work of William Harvey.