Jean Fernel facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jean Fernel
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born | 1497 |
| Died | 26 April 1558 |
| Nationality | French |
| Other names | Ioannes Fernelius |
| Academic background | |
| Influences | Galen |
| Academic work | |
| Discipline | Medicine |
| Institutions | University of Paris |
| Notable students | Andreas Vesalius |
Jean Fernel (whose name was also written in Latin as Ioannes Fernelius) was a famous French doctor and scientist. He lived a long time ago, from 1497 to 1558. He was the first person to use the word "physiology" to describe how our bodies work. He also made an important discovery about the spinal canal, which is a tube that protects our spinal cord. There's even a crater on the Moon named after him! Fernel also thought that our taste buds could sense fat, and guess what? Scientists in the 21st century found out he was right!
Contents
A Look at Jean Fernel's Life
Jean Fernel was born in a town called Montdidier in France. He went to school in Clermont and then studied at the College of Sainte-Barbe in Paris. At first, he loved studying math and stars. But after 1534, he decided to focus completely on medicine. He earned his medical degree in 1530.
Fernel was very smart and knew a lot about ancient Greek doctors. This helped him become famous. Soon, he became a doctor for the royal family. Catherine de' Medici, who was the wife of King Henry II, even asked him for advice. He was a very successful doctor and earned a lot of money. When he passed away in Paris in 1558, he was buried at the Church of Saint-Jacques-de-la-Boucherie.
Jean Fernel's Amazing Work
Measuring the Earth and Studying Stars
Fernel wrote a book called Cosmotheoria in 1528. In this book, he described how he measured the size of the Earth. He did this by counting how many times his carriage wheels turned on a trip. He traveled between Paris and Amiens to make his measurements.
Using his calculations, he figured out the circumference of the earth. His answer was incredibly close to the correct value, off by less than one percent! He also wrote other books about math and stars. These included Monalosphaerium, sive astrolabii genus, generalis horarii structura et usus (1526) and De proportionibus (1528).
Understanding How Our Bodies Work
Jean Fernel was a professor of medicine for over 20 years. He is famous for creating the word physiology. This is the study of how living things, like humans, work. Physiology then became a very important part of medical education and research.
Fernel had some early ideas about how our bodies work, especially the brain. Here are some of his famous thoughts:
- He said that "Anatomy is to physiology as geography is to history." This means that anatomy describes where things are in the body, like a map. Physiology explains what happens there, like a story.
- He believed the brain was "the seat of the mind." He thought the brain was where our thoughts and feelings came from. He also noted that humans have a larger brain than other creatures.
- He called the brain "the citadel and dwelling of the human mind." He saw it as the control center for our thoughts, reason, movement, and senses. He also noted it is at the highest point of our body.
Fernel wrote many important medical books. His most famous work was Universa Medicina. This book had three main parts. The first part was Physiologia, which explained how the body works. The second part was Pathologia, which was about diseases. The third part was Therapeutice, which focused on treatments.
