Comparative anatomy
Edward Tyson is regarded as the founder of modern comparative anatomy. He is credited with determining that whales and dolphins are, in fact, mammals. Also, he concluded that chimpanzees are more similar to humans than to monkeys because of their arms. Marco Aurelio Severino also compared various animals, including birds, in his "Zootomia democritaea", one of the first works of comparative anatomy. In the 18th and 19th century, great anatomists like George Cuvier, Richard Owen and Thomas Henry Huxley revolutionized our understanding of the basic build and systematics of vertebrates, laying the foundation for Charles Darwin's work on evolution. An example of a 20th-century comparative anatomist is Victor Negus, who worked on the structure and evolution of the larynx. Until the advent of genetic techniques like DNA sequencing, comparative anatomy together with embryology were the primary tools for understanding phylogeny, as exemplified by the work of Alfred Romer.
Antonio Maria Valsalva
Valsalva was born at Imola. The contemporary of Isaac Newton and Johann Sebastian Bach, he was educated in the humanities, mathematics, and natural sciences. After studies of the liberal arts, he studied medicine and philosophy in Bologna. He was taught by Marcello Malpighi, who is known as the founder of microscopic anatomy. Valsalva graduated from the medical school in 1687. In 1705, he was appointed professor of anatomy at Bologna. He was later chosen as president of the Academy of the Sciences. Valsalva taught Giovanni Battista Morgagni who edited Valsalva’s complete writings and published a biography on Valsalva, both in 1740.