William Harvey

William Harvey married Elizabeth Browne, daughter of the prominent physician Lancelot Browne. The couple did not have any children. His wife predeceased him.

He suffered from gout, kidney stones and insomnia in his later life. In 1651, he unsuccessfully attempted to take his life with laudanum.

On June 3, 1657, Harvey breathed his last due to a cerebral haemorrhage at his brother’s home in Roehampton. He was buried in Hempstead Essex.

William Harvey as born on April 1, 1578, in Folkestone, England, to Thomas Harvey, a jurat of Folkestone who served as the mayor and Joan Halke. He was the eldest of the nine children born to the couple.

Harvey gained his early education inFolkestone where he was educated in Latin. He later attended King’s School Canterbury after which he enrolled at the Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge in 1593. In 1597, Harvey graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Arts. He survived on scholarships.

Post completing his graduation, Harvey travelled to Italy. Therein, he gained admission at the University of Paduato study medicine and anatomy. He graduated with a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of Padua in 1602.

While at the University of Padua, Harvey was greatly influenced by his teacher and skilled anatomist and surgeon, Hieronymus Fabricius. It was from Fabriciusthat Harvey learned the fact that dissection led to a better understanding of the human body.

Immediately after completing his education, Harvey returned to England in 1602. On his return, he earned yet another degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Cambridge. The same year, he even became a fellow at his alma mater, Gonville and Caius College. He then moved to London to work as a physician.

In 1604, Harvey joined the College of Physicians. Three years later, he became a fellow at the College of Physicians. In 1607, he was appointed as a physician at St Bartholomew’s Hospital.In 1609, he rose to the position of Head Physician at the Hospital.

In 1615, William Harvey’s career saw a major leap when he was appointed as the Lumleian lecturer. The post came along with the duty to spread awareness and enhance the general knowledge of anatomy across England.

While continuing to serve as the Lumleian lecturer and at the Bartholomew Hospital, a lucrative offer led to him being appointed as the ‘Physician Extraordinary’ to King James I in 1618. He also served other prominent aristocrats and bureaucrats such as Francis Bacon.

In 1625, when James’ son, Charles I ascended to the throne, William Harvey served as his ‘Physician in Ordinary’ as well. Both James and Charles took a great interest in Harvey’s research and scientific work and encouraged him to work harder.

William Harvey’s most important contribution came in 1628 when he published his masterpiece ‘De Motu Cordis.’A book that detailed Harvey’s experimentation and observation, it refuted the belief that liver was the source of blood movement. Harvey became the first person to perfectly describe the function of the heart and that the circulation of blood around the body was through it.

He also established the fact that arteries and veins circulated blood through the whole body, including the brain. He also explained how blood flowed in one direction throughout the body and that it was in the lungs that the transformation of venous blood to arterial blood took place.