How anatomical names can carry hidden histories of power and exclusion

How anatomical names can carry hidden histories of power and exclusion

Gabriel Falloppius explaining one of his discoveries to the Cardinal Duke of Ferrara WellcomeTrust, CC BY-SABuried in your body is a tribute to a long-dead Italian anatomist, and he is not the only one. You are walking around with the names of strangers stitched into your bones, brains, and organs. We all are. Some of these names sound mythical. The Achilles tendon, the band at the back of your ankle, pays homage to a Greek hero felled by an arr…