THE BRAIN ON THE

SISTINE CHAPEL CEILING

At one time or another most of us have seen Michelangelo's "Creation of Man" panel from the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. When Michelangelo painted the chapel ceiling in 1512 he actually never named the various panels, instead, we of the so called modern age, have given them names. Dr. Frank Lynn Meshberger of St. John's Medical Center in Anderson, Indiana believes that the famous "creation" panel contains an image that has been misunderstood for 487 years--a brain that symbolizes God bestowing intellect on man. Over the previous half millennium scholars have interpreted the painting to mean God bestowed life on man. Dr. Meshberger however notes Adam's open eyes and believes this suggests that he's already alive. Dr. Meshberger researched Michelangelo's private life and found that the artist had deep religious beliefs and used to dissect cadavers to study the human form for his art. The following drawing illustrate how Dr. Meshberger identifies many of the brain's structures inthe image of God's swirling cloak and the surrounding angels.

DRAWING OF THE HUMAN BRAIN

MICHAELANGELO'S FRESCO WITH OVERLAY BY DR. MESHBERGER

NOTE TO APEH STUDENTS:

On the first day of class we expressed the concept that throughout this course there would be no right or wrong, only that which you could prove or not prove. Now that you have written the Renaissance Essay consider your views in light of this "new" evidence. In writing your essay, how much did you use your intellect. did you simply take the safe traditional route or did you really think before you wrote?