William Harvey

• Born in England in 1578, Harvey went on to study in London, Cambridge and then the famous Padua University.
• Harvey became the royal

  doctor for both King James I

  in 1618 and later, King

  Charles I.
• His work was

  published in 1628

  but had little

  immediate impact

  on the world of

  medicine.
• He taught his students

  that it was important to

  observe the body and

  believe what they saw,

  rather than classic

  textbooks.
• Believed strongly in dissection of

  real human bodies, not just

  animals.
• He is known for his discovery of how

  the blood circulates around the

  body using arteries, valves and

  veins.
• An Anatomical Account of the Motion of the Heart and Blood in 1628.
• He said that the heart acted as a pump, pumping blood around the body in a one-way system. This disproved Galen’s theory that blood was constantly being made in the liver and burned up by the body
• Though his theory was correct, it offered no practical use in the treatment of disease, so many people ignored or criticised it.