William Harvey (1 April 1578 – 3 June 1657) was an English physician who made influential contributions to anatomy and physiology. He was the first known physician to describe completely, and in detail, pulmonary and systemic circulation as well as the specific process of blood being pumped to the brain and the rest of the body by the heart (though earlier writers, such as Realdo Colombo, Michael Servetus, and Jacques Dubois, had provided precursors to some of his theories).
Family William's father, Thomas Harvey, was a jurat of Folkestone where he served as mayor in 1600. Records and personal descriptions delineate him as an overall calm, diligent, and intelligent man whose sons “... revered, consulted and implicitly trusted in him...” (they) made their father the treasurer of their wealth when they acquired great estates...(He) kept, employed, and improved their gainings to their great advantage." Thomas Harvey's portrait can still be seen in the central panel of a wall of the dining room at Rolls Park, Chigwell, in Essex. William was the eldest of nine children, seven sons and two daughters, of Thomas and his wife Joan Halke. Notable family connections include Heneage Finch, 1st Earl of Nottingham, who married William's niece Elizabeth Harvey, and the diplomat Sir Daniel Harvey. His great nephew was the naval hero Eliab Harvey, captain of HMS Temeraire.
Biography
Early life and the University of Padua Harvey's initial education was carried out in Folkestone, where he learned Latin. He then entered the King's School (Canterbury). Harvey stayed at the King's School for five years, after which he matriculated at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge in 1593. Harvey graduated as a Bachelor of Arts from Caius in 1597. He then travelled through France and Germany to Italy, where he entered the University of Padua, in 1599. During Harvey's years of study there, he developed a relationship with Fabricius and read Fabricius's De Venarum Ostiolis. Harvey graduated as a Doctor of Medicine at the age of 24 from the University of Padua on 25 April 1602. Harvey had
conducted himself so wonderfully well in the examination and had shown such skill, memory and learning that he had far surpassed even the great hopes which his examiners had formed of him.
The College of Physicians, marriage and Saint Bartholomew's Hospital After graduating from Padua, Harvey immediately returned to England, where he obtained the degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Cambridge that same year, and became a fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. Following this, Harvey established himself in London, joining the Royal College of Physicians on 5 October 1604. A few weeks after his admission, Harvey married Elizabeth Browne, "daughter of Lancelot Browne Dr. Physic" (a medical doctor). They had no children. Harvey was elected a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians on 5 June 1607, which earned him the Post-nominal letters FRCP. He then accepted a position at St Bartholomew's Hospital that he was to occupy for almost all the rest of his life. Succeeding Dr Wilkinson on 14 October 1609, he became the Physician in charge at St Bartholomew's Hospital, which enjoined him, "in God's most holy name" to "endeavor yourself to do the best of your knowledge in the profession of physic to the poor then present, or any other of the poor at any time of the week which shall be sent home unto you by the Hospitaller... You shall not, for favor, lucre or gain, appoint or write anything for the poor but such good and wholesome things as you shall think with your best advice will do the poor good, without any affection or respect to be had to the apothecary. And you shall take no gift or reward... for your counsel... This you will promise to do as you shall answer before God... " Harvey earned around thirty-three pounds a year and lived in a small house in Ludgate, although two houses in West Smithfield were attached as fringe benefits to the post of Physician. At this point, the physician's function consisted of a simple but thorough analysis of patients who were brought to the hospital once a week and the subsequent writing of prescriptions.
Lumleian lecturer The next important phase of Harvey's life began with his appointment to the office of Lumleian lecturer on 4 August 1615. The Lumleian lectureship, founded by Lord Lumley and Dr. Richard Caldwell in 1582, consisted in giving lectures for a period of seven years, with the purpose of "spreading light" and increasing the general knowledge of anatomy throughout England. Harvey began his lectures in April 1616, and also compiled his lecture notes in a notebook. At this time, at the age of thirty-seven, he was described as "a man of lowest stature, round faced; his eyes small, round, very black and full of spirit; his hair as black as a raven and curling". The notes which he used at the time are preserved in the British Museum. At the beginning of his lectures, Harvey laid down the canons for his guidance:
"To show as much as may be at a glance, the whole belly for instance, and afterwards to subdivide the parts according to their positions and relations. To point out what is peculiar to the actual body which is being dissected. To supply only by speech what cannot be shown on your own credit and by authority. To cut up as much as may be in the sight of the audience. To enforce the right opinion by remarks drawn far and near, and to illustrate man by the structure of animals. Not to praise or dispraise other anatomists, for all did well, and there was some excuse even for those who are in error. Not to dispute with others, or attempt to confute them, except by the most obvious retort. To state things briefly and plainly, yet not letting anything pass unmentioned which can be seen. Not to speak of anything which can be as well explained without the body or can be read at home. Not to enter into too much detail, or in too minute dissection, for the time does not permit. To serve three courses according to the glass [i.e. allot a definite time to each part of the body]. In the first day's lectures the abdomen, nasty yet recompensed by its infinite variety. In the second the parlour, [i.e. the thorax]. In the third day's lecture the divine banquet of the brain."
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