William Harvey
was educated at Kings School, Canterbury and Gonville &
Caius College, Cambridge. He studied medicine in Padua, Italy
(1600-1602), and then returned to England to practice. In
1607 he became a Fellow of the College of Physicians. Two
years later he was appointed Physician to St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital – a position he held until c.1644. He was also
Physician Extraordinary to King James I from 1618, and later
Physician to King Charles I.
William Harvey's training in Padua provided him with the
most advanced medical knowledge of the time. At St. Bartholomew’s
Hospital he continued to study the function of the body's
organs. These investigations led to his discovery of the circulation
of the blood, which he described in his classic work of 1628
“Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis
in Animalibus” (The motion of the heart and blood
in animals).
Almost four hundred years later research into the regulation
of the circulation still represents one of the most important
efforts to identify new medicines to prevent heart disease,
and to treat rheumatoid arthritis, renal disease or the many
complications of diabetes. |
