THE BROKEN FACE

Then vs Now · Episode 5 · Anatomy · Wed 11 Nov 2026

Leonardo da Vinci and the Bone That Brought Down Galen

Premieres Wed 11 Nov · 12:00 ET Leonardo da Vinci and the Bone That Brought Down GalenJoin the list below and we'll send it the day it's out.

For more than a thousand years, medicine learned the human body from Galen, a Roman doctor who never dissected a human. Leonardo da Vinci drew the truth in secret notebooks. Andreas Vesalius cut the bodies himself and proved the books wrong — starting with the jaw. Then came grave robbers, Burke and Hare, a new law, and the textbook every doctor and dentist knows: Gray's Anatomy. And a twist about your own jaw at birth.

Every Then vs Now episode ends with what a surgeon would do today.

Chapters

  1. 0:00Leonardo and the old man
  2. 0:54Why a painter cut open the dead
  3. 2:06Galen, the doctor who never dissected a human
  4. 2:56Vesalius checks the books
  5. 4:16The twist: your jaw at birth
  6. 4:40Quick pause: the quiz
  7. 5:03Edinburgh: the body shortage
  8. 6:08Gray's Anatomy
  9. 6:53Then vs Now: learning anatomy today
  10. 8:10Before you go

Read more

Affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Disclosure

The Anatomist: A True Story of Gray's AnatomyBill HayesView on Amazon.ca →
Leonardo da VinciWalter IsaacsonView on Amazon.ca →
The Anatomy Murders (Burke and Hare)Lisa RosnerView on Amazon.ca →

Sources

Facts were checked against multiple sources. Key references (full list in the pinned comment on YouTube):

Some visuals are illustrations or reconstructions. For education only — not medical or legal advice.