Cesalpino, Andrea (1519-1603)

Botanist, anatomist, physician, and physiologist, born in Arezzo, Italy. He was professor of medicine and director of the botanic garden in Pisa (1553--92), then became physician to Pope Clement VIII. He propounded a theory of the circulation of the blood that pre-dated the work of Harvey, and initiated scientific plant classification based on methods suggested by Theophrastus. He was the author of De plantis (1583), the first textbook establishing botany as a scientific subject.