Between 1585 and 1738, four members of the celebrated Bartholin family made significant contributions to anatomical science and medicine. Caspar Bartholin (the elder), two of his sons (Thomas and Rasmus), and his grandson (Caspar the younger) all served on the medical faculty of the University of Copenhagen, and helped to gain international acclaim for the institution. Over three generations, the Bartholins challenged traditional ideas about science and the human body, and discovered anatomical structures and phenomena that would prove crucial to the practice of modern medicine.