Giovanni Filippo Ingrassia (1510–1580) was a major figure in the history of the science of human anatomy

Anatomy

Anatomy is a branch of biology and medicine that is the consideration of the structure of living things. It is a general term that includes human anatomy, animal anatomy , and plant anatomy...

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Ingrassia was a learned Sicilian physician, who, in a skilful commentary on the osteology

Osteology

Osteology is the scientific study of bones. A subdiscipline of anatomy, anthropology, and archeology, osteology is a detailed study of the structure of bones, skeletal elements, teeth, morphology, function, disease, pathology, the process of ossification , the resistance and hardness of bones , etc...

 of Galen

Galen

Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...

, corrected numerous mistakes. He was university professor at the University of Naples. He gave the first distinct account of the true configuration of the sphenoid and the ethmoid bone

Ethmoid bone

The ethmoid bone is a bone in the skull that separates the nasal cavity from the brain. As such, it is located at the roof of the nose, between the two orbits. The cubical bone is lightweight due to a spongy construction. The ethmoid bone is one of the bones that makes up the orbit of the eye...

, and has the merit of first describing (1546) the third ear bone, the tympanum

Eardrum

The eardrum, or tympanic membrane, is a thin membrane that separates the external ear from the middle ear in humans and other tetrapods. Its function is to transmit sound from the air to the ossicles inside the middle ear. The malleus bone bridges the gap between the eardrum and the other ossicles...

, called stapes, though this distinction is also claimed by Eustachius

Bartolomeo Eustachi

Bartolomeo Eustachi , also known by his Latin name of Eustachius, was one of the founders of the science of human anatomy.-Life:...

 and Fallopius.