Gabriele Falloppio (1523-1562) was initially educated as a priest in his native Modena, Italy. He subsequently became a physician and professor of anatomy in Pisa, and later in Padua on the post Vesalius (1515-1564) had occupied not long before him. In 1561, Falloppius published a collection of anatomical observations to supplement, and sometimes correct, Vesalius’ great De humani corporis fabrica libri septem of 1543. Among Falloppius’ observations was a description of the female ‘semen-conveying ducts’, as they were then called, in which he emphasized their gradual widening towards the female ‘testes’, to which they were only loosely attached by fringe (fimbriae) or ‘shreds of worn clothes’. When this fringe was folded back, the resulting opening resembled that of a brazen trumpet (tuba). Vesalius published a courteous riposte in which he still denied the existence of such an opening. The tubes Falloppius had described were eventually named after him.

Conflict of interest: none declared. Financial support: J.P. Gijselhart works part-time for the Association of the Dutch Journal of Medicine (Vereniging Nederlands Tijdschrift voor Geneeskunde), Amsterdam.