William Harvey
The man who first correctly explained the process of blood
circulation in our bodies and the role of heart in the process is none
other than William Harvey, an English physician. He is also known as the
father of modern physiology.
Early Life, Education and Career:
William Harvey was born on 1 April 1578 in Folkestone, Kent, England,
the eldest of seven sons. His father, Thomas Harvey was a jurat of
Folkestone. After completing his schooling from the King’s School,
Canterbury he joined the Caius College, Cambridge at the age of sixteen.
There he studied arts and medicine and received his Bachelor of Arts
degree in 1597. His fascination for medicine led him to Italy to study
at the University of Padua, the center for western European medical
instruction. Here he studied under the famous anatomist, Fabricius,
Julius Casserius, and other renowned men and graduated with honors in
1602. In the same year he returned to England where he earned yet
another medical degree from Cambridge University. Following this, Harvey
established himself in London, joining the College of Physicians on
October 5, 1604. The same year he also got married to Elizabeth Browne,
daughter of Lancelot Browne, physician to King James I. They had no
children.
In 1609, he was chosen a physician to St. Bartholomew’s Hospital, and
in 1615 Lumleian Lecturer at the College of Physicians – a position
that he held for his entire life. His thoughts about circulation of the
blood were first publicly expressed in these lectures during 1616.
Harvey continued to contribute to the Lumleain lectures at the same time
also taking care of his patients at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital; he thus
soon attained an important and fairly lucrative practice, which made
possible his appointment as court physician to King James I in 1618 and
then to Charles I in 1625, a post he held until Charles was beheaded in
1649. Charles helped Harvey by providing him with deer from the royal
parks for his medical research. Harvey stood firm with Charles, looking
after him even during the Cromwellian Civil War, which led to the
sacking of Harvey’s rooms in 1642 and the demolition of many of his
medical notes and papers. He stopped working at the end of the Civil
War, a widower, and lived with his various brothers.
Contribution:
Harvey’s discovery of the circulation of blood is considered as his
greatest contribution to the field of medicine. His many experimental
dissections and vivisections made him reject Galen’s views about blood
movement, particularly the concepts that blood was formed in the liver
and absorbed by the body, and that it flowed through the septum
(dividing wall) of the heart. Harvey first examined the heartbeat,
finding the existence of the pulmonary circulation and noting the
one-way flow of blood. In his attempt to discover the amount of blood
pumped by the heart, he figured out that there must be a constant amount
of blood flowing through the arteries and returning through the veins
of the heart, following a cycle. He presented this explanation in 1628
in his publication -An Anatomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and
of the Blood in Animals.
He published another ground-breaking book in 1651 titled as “Essays
on the Generation of Animals.” This book is considered the basis for
modern embryology.
Death:
This great physician died of a stroke at the age of 79, on 3 June, 1657 at Roehampton. He is buried in Hempstead church.
