Biography

Severino was born in Tarsia (Calabria, Italy), of Giovanni Jacopo Severino, a lawyer. He died of plague in 1656.

Adept of the atomist views of Democritus, he disregarded Aristotle. He met Tommaso Campanella and corresponded with William Harvey. He was familiar of the works of scientists of the antiquity like Claude Galien and Lactantius.

Controversy

Besides his brilliant career as a surgeon and professor, his works present an ambiguous aspect. He includes mystic speculations, and his work attempts to coincide with his religious beliefs.

Works

• De recondita abscessuum natura, O. Beltrani, Naples, 1632
• Zootomia democritaea, id est anatome generalis totius animantium opificii : libris quinque distincta, quorum seriem sequens facies delineabit, Endterius, Nuremberg, 1645
• De efficaci medicina, J. Beyer, Frankfort, 1646
• De viperae natura, veneno, medicina demonstrationes et experimenta nova, P. Frambotti, Padoue, 1650
• Trimembris chirurgia, Schönwetter, Frankfort, 1653
• Therapeuta Neapolitanus, J. A. Tarin, Naples, 1653
• Quaestiones anatomicae quatuor, Frankfort, 1654
• Antiperipatias. Hoc est adversus Arsitoteleos de respiratione piscium diatriba. De piscibus in sicco viventibus commentarius... Phoca illustratus..., 2 vol., Naples, H. C. Cavalli, 1655-1659
• Synopseos chirurgiae libri sex, E. Weyerstroten, Amsterdam, 1664

External links

• biography, on the Galileo Project website
• biography and bibliography (in French), on the Bibliothèque interuniversitaire de Médecine website