Translation marathon complete

A former University of Auckland professor is celebrating publication of the final instalment of a medical book he and a former colleague spent more than 20 years translating from Latin into English.

Emeritus Professor John Carman and Dr William Richardson began translating Andreas Vesalius's Humani Corporis Fabrica (On The Fabric of the Human Body) in 1981.

It was published in 1543 by Brussels-born Vesalius. Professor Carman described Vesalius's first writings as a pivotal step in medical science.

"For the first time Vesalius insisted you must look at the human anatomy yourself. It was rated very highly until the early part of the century when nobody read Latin and they began to criticise it."

In the early 1980s, researchers at the university's medical school approached Dr Richardson for translations of the 700-page book needed for their studies.

"He realised there was no translation of this in any modern language except for Russian in the 1950s - but that was no great deal of help. Will [Richardson] decided he would attempt the translation," Professor Carman said.

In 1990 Professor Carman began helping Dr Richardson. The professor described their meeting as "serendipitous". Dr Richardson could interpret the Latin; Professor Carman was able to make proper sense of the medical references.

In 1998 the first volume of English translation was published. Subsequent volumes followed in 1999 and 2001.

By 2004 the remaining four volumes had been translated, but were still to be published when Dr Richardson died.

Professor Carman took over the the editing. In January the final two volumes were published, both dedicated to Dr Richardson.

Professor Carman will celebrate with colleagues, Dr Richardson's family and friends today. He is now planning a 28-page summary of Vesalius's work.