Colombo, Matteo Realdo (c. 1516-1559)

Italian anatomist who discovered pulmonary circulation, the process of blood circulating from the heart to the lungs and back. This showed that Galen's teachings were wrong, and was of help to William Harvey in his work on the heart and circulation. Colombo was a pupil of Andreas Vesalius and became his successor at the University of Padua.