William Harvey Essay

William Harvey, a man who was born in Folkestone, England in April of 1578, grew up to be a scientist that began his career researching about the Circulatory System, and how blood was transported throughout the body. The circulatory system is defined as: “an organ system that permits blood to circulate and transport nutrients.” Harvey was known as “the Father of Modern Physiology.” He earned his bachelor’s degree from the University of Cambridge, and his doctorate in medicine in 1602 from the University of Padua (Ballaro 1). After Harvey graduated, he packed his bags and went back to England and set up his own medical practice. In the year of 1607, Harvey was invited to join the Royal College of Physicians, and nearly two years later was appointed

Galen was a Greek physician and scientist who studied the circulatory system and how blood flow worked; his research persuaded people that lungs were the main source of blood flow in the body. He was born in AD 129 and died in AD 217. Other physicians during Harvey’s time of research had thought that the lungs were the source of blood flow throughout the body. Standard citizens did not know what to think or who to believe when it came down to the circulatory system, but Harvey had done a lot of research and tests trying to prove that the lungs were not as important as other physicians and scientists said they were. Harvey published his findings in the book Anatomical Studies on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals, in 1628. Harvey’s peers did not respect his work in this field. It was another fifty years after Harvey’s death that his work was fully appreciated and accepted. Since the time of Harvey and Galen, surgeons and scientists today can thoroughly track the flow of blood in the standard circulatory system (Lauer 1). Although Harvey did not win any awards for his outstanding research, there is an award named after him that describes what he did during his lifetime and how he proved that the blood flow in the circulatory system does not depend on the lungs.