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He worked as a surgeon and taught anatomy privately until he was appointed to the chair in Padua in 1565—the post had been left vacant for three years following Fallopio’s death, so Fabricius was Fallopio’s direct successor, in spite of the gap.

The valves were already known, but Fabricius investigated them thoroughly and described them in detail, first in public demonstrations in 1579 and later in an accurately illustrated book published in 1603.

Fabricius retired in 1613, because of ill health, and died in 1619.

One of Harvey’s key discoveries was that the valves in the veins, described so accurately by his teacher Fabricius, are one-way systems, which allow blood to flow only towards the heart, and that this blood must originate as arterial blood, which is pumped away from the heart and travels through tiny capillaries linking the arterial and venous systems to enter the veins.

But perhaps Fallopio’s greatest contribution to anatomy was his role as the teacher of Girolamo Fabrizio, who became known as Hieronymous Fabricius ab Aquapendente, and succeeded Fallopio to the chair in Padua when Fallopio died.