William Harvey

William Harvey (Known as "Discoverer of Systemic Blood Circulation")

Physician, Anatomist to King Charles I, President of the College of Physicians

Born 1 April 1578

Folkestone (Kent), Great Britain

Passed Away 3 June 1657 Roehampton (London), Great Britain

Lifespan 79 years old

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Notice / Correction

"All we know is still infinitely less than all that remains unknown. The heart is the primary organ of life and the sun of the body."

Archival Overview

English physician whose 1628 masterwork De Motu Cordis proved the complete systemic circulation of blood pumped continuously by the heart in a closed circuit throughout the body.

Biographical Record

William Harvey (1578–1657) studied under Fabricius at the University of Padua before returning to London as physician to St Bartholomew's Hospital and personal physician to Kings James I and Charles I. In 1628 in Frankfurt, he published his revolutionary treatise, Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus (*On the Motion of the Heart and Blood*).

Through quantitative measurement, Harvey demonstrated that the left ventricle pumps so much blood in an hour (surpassing the body's entire weight) that the blood must circulate continuously in a closed loop through arteries to the tissues and return via veins to the heart. He predicted the existence of microscopic capillaries (confirmed by Malpighi in 1661) and established embryology in *De Generatione Animalium*.

Key Life Milestones

1628 CE

Publication of 'De Motu Cordis'

Demonstrated through quantitative physiological experiment that blood circulates continuously in a closed vascular circuit.

1651 CE

Publication of 'De Generatione Animalium'

Pioneered modern embryology with the foundational biological doctrine: 'Ex ovo omnia' (all life comes from an egg).

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Final Resting Place

Perpetual Memorial

St Andrew's Church (Harvey Chapel)
Hempstead (Essex), United Kingdom

                         GPS: 52.0125, 0.3875                    

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