full transcript

From the Ted Talk by Ramon Glazov: Ancient Rome's most notorious doctor

Unscramble the Blue Letters


In the middle of the 16th century, a talented young atnimosat named Andreas Vesalius made a shocking discovery: the most famous human anatomy texts in the world were wnrog. They not only failed to acucnot for many details of the hmuan body, they also described the organs of apes and other mammals. While Vesalius knew he was right, acunnniong these errors would mean challenging Galen of Pergamon– the most renowned piyicsahn in miedcal history. But who was this towering figure? And why did doctors working more than 1,300 years later so rveere and fear him?

Born in 129 CE, gelan left home as a teen to scour the Mediterranean for medical wisdom. He rtnreued home a gifted surgeon with a passion for anatomy and a penchant for showmanship. He gleefully entered public anatomy contests, eager to show up his fellow pschynaiis. In one demonstration, he caused a pig to lose its voice by tying off one of its nerves. In another, he disemboweled a monkey and challenged his colleagues to rieapr it. When they couldn’t, he did. These grizzly feats won him a position as surgeon to the city’s gtlraoaids. Eventually, he would leave the arena to become the personal physician to four Roman Emperors.

Open Cloze


In the middle of the 16th century, a talented young _________ named Andreas Vesalius made a shocking discovery: the most famous human anatomy texts in the world were _____. They not only failed to _______ for many details of the _____ body, they also described the organs of apes and other mammals. While Vesalius knew he was right, __________ these errors would mean challenging Galen of Pergamon– the most renowned _________ in _______ history. But who was this towering figure? And why did doctors working more than 1,300 years later so ______ and fear him?

Born in 129 CE, _____ left home as a teen to scour the Mediterranean for medical wisdom. He ________ home a gifted surgeon with a passion for anatomy and a penchant for showmanship. He gleefully entered public anatomy contests, eager to show up his fellow __________. In one demonstration, he caused a pig to lose its voice by tying off one of its nerves. In another, he disemboweled a monkey and challenged his colleagues to ______ it. When they couldn’t, he did. These grizzly feats won him a position as surgeon to the city’s __________. Eventually, he would leave the arena to become the personal physician to four Roman Emperors.

Solution


  1. galen
  2. repair
  3. human
  4. anatomist
  5. medical
  6. announcing
  7. physicians
  8. returned
  9. wrong
  10. physician
  11. gladiators
  12. account
  13. revere

Original Text


In the middle of the 16th century, a talented young anatomist named Andreas Vesalius made a shocking discovery: the most famous human anatomy texts in the world were wrong. They not only failed to account for many details of the human body, they also described the organs of apes and other mammals. While Vesalius knew he was right, announcing these errors would mean challenging Galen of Pergamon– the most renowned physician in medical history. But who was this towering figure? And why did doctors working more than 1,300 years later so revere and fear him?

Born in 129 CE, Galen left home as a teen to scour the Mediterranean for medical wisdom. He returned home a gifted surgeon with a passion for anatomy and a penchant for showmanship. He gleefully entered public anatomy contests, eager to show up his fellow physicians. In one demonstration, he caused a pig to lose its voice by tying off one of its nerves. In another, he disemboweled a monkey and challenged his colleagues to repair it. When they couldn’t, he did. These grizzly feats won him a position as surgeon to the city’s gladiators. Eventually, he would leave the arena to become the personal physician to four Roman Emperors.

Frequently Occurring Word Combinations




Important Words


  1. account
  2. anatomist
  3. anatomy
  4. andreas
  5. announcing
  6. apes
  7. arena
  8. body
  9. born
  10. caused
  11. ce
  12. century
  13. challenged
  14. challenging
  15. colleagues
  16. contests
  17. demonstration
  18. details
  19. disemboweled
  20. doctors
  21. eager
  22. emperors
  23. entered
  24. errors
  25. eventually
  26. failed
  27. famous
  28. fear
  29. feats
  30. fellow
  31. figure
  32. galen
  33. gifted
  34. gladiators
  35. gleefully
  36. grizzly
  37. history
  38. home
  39. human
  40. knew
  41. leave
  42. left
  43. lose
  44. mammals
  45. medical
  46. mediterranean
  47. middle
  48. monkey
  49. named
  50. nerves
  51. organs
  52. passion
  53. penchant
  54. personal
  55. physician
  56. physicians
  57. pig
  58. position
  59. public
  60. renowned
  61. repair
  62. returned
  63. revere
  64. roman
  65. scour
  66. shocking
  67. show
  68. showmanship
  69. surgeon
  70. talented
  71. teen
  72. texts
  73. towering
  74. tying
  75. vesalius
  76. voice
  77. wisdom
  78. won
  79. working
  80. world
  81. wrong
  82. years
  83. young