The contributions of the Spanish anatomist Barcia-Goyanes to international anatomical terminology

Juan José Barcia-Goyanes (Santiago de Compostela, 1901 - Valencia, 2003) was a Full Professor of Anatomy (Catedrático de Anatomía) in 1927 at the University of Salamanca and later on, at the University of Valencia, until his retirement. Among his bibliographical data, besides his profound knowledge of Anatomy, he also excelled for his studies on Psychiatry and Neurology and, based on this expertise, he became a pioneer of Spanish Neurosurgery, which he initiated in 1931. In addition, he was Dean of the School of Medicine and Rector of the University of Valencia. In this article, we would like to emphasize his contributions to Anatomy, addressing some of his most important publications. He described for the first time the Incisive Superior Bone, and published crucial conclusions about the foundations of Anatomy and the concept of Form. Importantly, we highlight the Onomatologia anatomica nova, as an opus magnum on the language of Anatomy, which was possible due to his wide knowledge of languages. We also underline, among others, his original study on the greatest work of Vesalius.