Harvey, William

Harvey, William
(1578-1657)
   English physician, famous in the history of medicine as the discoverer of the circulation of the blood. His discovery appeared in his principal publication, De motu cordis / On the Motion of the Heart (1628). His theory undermined the theoretical foundations of traditional Galenic medicine. He studied medicine at Cambridge and at Padua in Italy, the most famous medical school of the Renaissance. He then worked at St. Bartholomew's Hospital in London and also lectured on medicine. Beginning in 1618, he served as royal physician to Kings James I and Charles I.
   Observing from animal studies that that the valves in the circulatory system permit the blood to flow in only one direction, he calculated the volume of blood pumped out of the heart at each beat and concluded that the amount of blood passing through the heart was so great that the same blood must circulate repeatedly through the veins and arteries. His work is also important in the field of scientific methodology, for he permitted his quantitative calculations of the volume of blood to overrule the lack of any experimental demonstration of a connecting link between the venous system and the arteries. Not until a generation later, after the invention of the compound microscope, was there experimental confirmation of the blood's circulation when the capillaries linking veins and arteries in the lungs were discovered.

Historical Dictionary of Renaissance. . 2004.

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  • Harvey, William — Médico y anatómico británico nacido en 1578. Demostró experimentalmente su teoría sobre la circulación sanguínea explicando la función de las cámaras del corazón y el funcionamiento de las válvulas y las venas (exercitatio anatomica de motu… …   Diccionario médico

  • HARVEY William — (1578 1657) (retrato) [véase http://www.iqb.es/diccio/h/ha.htm#harvey] : célebre médico y fisiólogo inglés que en su obra Excercitatio de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus describió la circulación de la sangre. Biografía [véase… …   Diccionario médico

  • Harvey, William — born April 1, 1578, Folkestone, Kent, Eng. died June 3, 1657, London English physician. He studied at Cambridge University and later at the University of Padua, then considered the best medical school in Europe. After receiving a medical diploma …   Universalium

  • Harvey , William — (1578–1657) English physician Harvey was born in the English coastal town of Folkestone and educated at King s School, Canterbury, and Cambridge University. In 1599 he made the then customary visit to Italy where he studied medicine at the… …   Scientists

  • Harvey, William — ► (1578 1657) Médico inglés. Descubrió la doble circulación de la sangre, intuyendo los vasos capilares que descubrió Malpighi. * * * (1 abr. 1578, Folkestone, Kent, Inglaterra–3 jun. 1657, Londres). Médico inglés. Estudió en la Universidad de… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Harvey,William — Har·vey (härʹvē), William. 1578 1657. English physician, anatomist, and physiologist who discovered the circulation of blood in the human body (1628). * * * …   Universalium

  • HARVEY, WILLIAM —    a celebrated English physician, born at Folkestone, in Kent; graduated at Cambridge, and in 1602 received his medical diploma at Padua; settling in London, he in a few years became physician to St. Bartholomew s Hospital, and subsequently… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Harvey William — (1578 1657) British physician who first demonstrated the circulation of blood through the body …   English contemporary dictionary

  • Harvey — William …   Scientists

  • William Henry Harvey — (February 5, 1811 ndash;May 15, 1866) was an Irish botanist who specialised in algae. He was one of the most distinguished students of marine algae of all time. Biography William Henry Harvey was born at Summerville near Limerick, Ireland, in… …   Wikipedia

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