Guillaume Rondelet (1507-1566): Cardinal physician and anatomist who dissected his own son.

The 16th century French anatomist Guillaume Rondelet will be remembered as a great naturalist and a founder of ichthyology. Little known to most is that Rondelet was a proficient anatomist and contemporary to Vesalius and in fact, both studied anatomy under Johannes Guinter. Even less known is that he established the first dissecting theatre at Montpellier and it was here that he would dissect his infant son in an attempt to identify the cause of death. In this article, we review the life and contributions to anatomy of Rondelet.