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Dr. William Harvey is best known for his discovery of the circulatory system. Harvey’s work led to our present day understanding of the mechanics of the heart in pumping blood through the body and of the path of blood flow in a circular-like way from and back to the heart. He introduced quantitative methods in physiological research and so paved the way for many future development and advances in the field of medicine.
William Harvey was born on April 1st, 1578, in Folkeston, England. His parents were Thomas Harvey and Joane Halke. At the age of 17 Harvey was granted a scholarship to Gonville and Caius Collage in Cambridge where he received his Bachelor of Arts degree. From there, Harvey went on to study medicine at the University of Pauda, Italy, where he studied under Hieronymus Fabricius who is best known for his discovery of valves within the veins and would inspire Harvey to seek an even greater understanding of blood flow in the body. Following graduation, Harvey married Elizabeth C. Browne, daughter of Lancelot Browne, a well known London physician. William and Elizabeth Harvey would have no children. During his career, Harvey practiced medicine at St. Bartholomew’s Hospital and became a Fellow of the Royal College of Physician from 1609 until 1643. Harvey later became Warden of Merton College in Oxford.
In 1628, Harvey published his work Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus (An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals), commonly referred to as De Motus Cordis. In this book Harvey presented his discovery of the circulatory system and argued that blood is circulated in the body and is pumped by the heart through the body and was returned back to the heart by the veins in a circular motion. This model challenged the ideas of the times. Prior to Harvey, Galen held the leading explanation of blood flow. Galen believed that blood contained spirits and was produced in the liver and was then consumed by the body. Harvey ultimately disproved Galen by calculating the mass of blood that would be required to meet Galen’s model. According to Harvey’s calculations the body could not produce enough blood to meet the needs of the body therefore blood must circulate. Harvey then ushered in his own explanations. Through a series of confirmable experiments Harvey discovered that blood circulates, in one direction, and that the valves serve to regulate the flow of blood.
Because the naked eye cannot see the minute capillaries that connect the arteries and veins, and because microscopes were not yet available, Harvey could only infer the existence of such connecting vessels. Marcello Malpighi (1628-1694), using an early microscope, first saw the capillaries, thus closing the loop in Harvey's circulatory system. Coincidentally, Malpighi entered the world the year De Motu Cordis was published.
Harvey's new model was met with much opposition at first, in great part owing to the dominance of Galen's views of anatomy and physiology; however, in the end Harvey’s views would become accepted within his lifetime. William Harvey died on June 3rd, 1657. He was a major contributor to our present day understanding of circulation and has become known as one of the most influential physicians in medical history.
