This article focuses on Johannes Jessenius (Ján Jesenský) (1566‐1621), with particular attention paid to his famous Prague dissection and its publication (2011 marking its 410th anniversary). Jessenius was a physician, surgeon, anatomist, scholar, philosopher, and university authority. We focus on the life and main contribution of Jessenius based on his 1600 Prague dissection, the Anatomiae, Pragae (1601). Borovanský described Jessenius' book as “not as a textbook, but as a publication aiming at educated laymen with the purpose of advertising, filled with quotations of old classical authors.” This work presents an important part of the Central European scientific, cultural, and political life of the late Renaissance period. Clin. Anat. 25:149–154, 2012. © 2011 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.

Jan Jesensky (Johannes Jessenius) ranks among the outstanding Renaissance polymaths of Central Europe. Stemming from Horne Jaseno (present-day Slovakia), born in Wrócław (Poland), he studied philosophy and medicine in Wittenberg, Leipzig (Germany) and Padua (Italy), worked in Wrócław, Wittenberg, Prague (Czech Republic) and Vienna (Austria), and was executed in Prague. He was influenced by and himself impacted upon a large area of the pre-30-year-war Europe science, learning and politics. The year 2011 marked the 410th anniversary of the publication of his famous description of the public dissection performed in Prague, as well as the 390th anniversary of his death. His scientific and editorial work covers not only anatomy but also surgery, internal medicine, infectious diseases and even philosophy and poetry. Moreover, he was very active as University Rector (in both Wittenberg and Prague) and also as politician of the Protestant fraction in Bohemia, which unfortunately led to his violent death. He was an excellent promoter of his own person and work and he understood and exerted dexterously the power of publicity.