Giovanni Battista Morgagni (February 25, 1682 - December 6, 1771) was an Italian anatomist, generally regarded as the father of modern anatomical pathology, who taught thousands of medical students from many countries during his 56 years as Professor of Anatomy at the University of Padua. His most significant literary contribution, the monumental five-volume On the Seats and Causes of Disease, embodied a lifetime of experience in anatomical dissection and observation, and established the fundamental principle that most diseases are not vaguely dispersed throughout the body, but originate locally, in specific organs and tissues. His precision, his exhaustiveness, and his freedom from bias are his essentially modern or scientific qualities. His treatise was the commencement of the era of steady progress in pathology and in practical medicine. He died in 1771 at the age of 89.