By all accounts, William Harvey led a charmed life. Harvey, oldest of seven children, was born in 1578 in Kent, England, around the middle of Queen Elizabeth the first's reign. He was a voracious student, earning his bachelor's degree in 1597 from Cambridge University. He continued his schooling at the University of Padua, the foremost medical school of the time, where he studied under the esteemed scientist and surgeon, Hieronymus Fabricius. Fabricius, an ardent anatomist, had observed the one-way valves in veins, but had not figured out exactly what their role was. The popular belief of the day held that blood was circulated by a sort of pulsing action of the arteries.

Harvey returned to England in 1602 and married Elizabeth Browne, who was the daughter of one of the Queen's physicians. Harvey himself obtained a fellowship at the Royal College of Physicians. In 1618 he was appointed as a physician to the court of J

Galen's books were used at training schools for doctors until the Renaissance. Even though some doctors questioned his theories, the Catholic Church prevented Galen being challenged in this period, as his theories of anatomy fitted in with their belief in a "system ordained by nature".

Galen's ideas dominated medicine throughout the Middle Ages. He discovered that blood moved in the body, although he did not know that it circulated. Medical students studied his descriptions of operations, including a tracheotomy to cure breathing difficulties, long after his death. To help with the diagnosis of patients, Galen took their pulse, a practice that is still used today. Galen's drawing of the heart was studied by doctors until the 16th century.

Harvey was a doctor at St. Bartholomew's hospital in London and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians. He was also the physician to James I and Charles I. Harvey studied in Italy at the University of Padua where he became interested in anatomy and in particular, the work of Vesalius. What were his important discoveries? In 1615 Harvey began to work on the idea that blood circulated around the body. By experimenting on live animals and dissecting the bodies of executed criminals, Harvey was able to prove that the heart was a pump which forced blood around the body through arteries. Veins then returned the blood to the heart where it was recycled. Harvey's work was helped by the discovery that veins contained valves. Harvey realised that these valves stopped the blood from travelling back the wrong way to the heart. Galen's theory (that the body made new blood as its supplies were used up) was proved wrong. In 1628, Harvey published details of his work in his book entitled 'An Anatomical Disquisition on the Movement of t

Some topics in this essay:
Marcus Aurelius, William Harvey, University Padua, Harvey Harvey's, Middle Ages, Charles Harvey, Fabricius Fabricius, College Physicians, Galen AD129, Galen Greek, william harvey, appointed physician, royal college physicians, college physicians, royal college, galen galen, theory body, blood circulation, galen's books, realised importance, claudius galen, william harvey proved,