William Harvey, (born April 1, 1578, Folkestone, Kent, England—died June 3, 1657, London), English physician who was the first to recognize the full circulation of the blood in the human body and to provide experiments and arguments to support this idea
He also discovered that the heart's four valves permitted flow of blood in one direction only: from the right ventricle to the lungs, back to the left ventricle, and from there to the aorta. William Harvey was born on 1 April 1578.
He isolated parts of the heart; he ligated and divided arteries; he exerted pressure on veins on either side of the valves. His observations of dissected hearts showed that the valves in the heart allowed blood to flow in only one direction
Harvey performed the greatest-ever medical experiments, giving birth to the science of physiology, when he discovered the circulation of blood, completely revising the description of Galen (129-200), the Greek physician and anatomist whose ideas dominated western medicine for 1500 years..
Harvey was the first person to correctly describe blood's circulation in the body. He showed that arteries and veins form a complete circuit. The circuit starts at the heart and leads back to the heart. The heart's regular contractions drive the flow of blood around the whole body.
Blood comes into the right atrium from the body, moves into the right ventricle and is pushed into the pulmonary arteries in the lungs. After picking up oxygen, the blood travels back to the heart through the pulmonary veins into the left atrium, to the left ventricle and out to the body's tissues through the aorta.
Blood that has delivered its nutrients and oxygen and is in need of oxygen comes back to your heart in the veins and enters the right hand side of the heart . This blood which is in need of oxygen (so-called deoxygenated blood) is sent to your lungs to pick up oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide.
Blood has many different functions, including: transporting oxygen and nutrients to the lungs and tissues. forming blood clots to prevent excess blood loss. carrying cells and antibodies that fight infection.
Harvey discovered the principle of the circulation of the blood through the body. Before Harvey, doctors accepted Galen's idea that new blood was manufactured by the liver to replace blood that had been burned up by the muscles. Harvey became physician to James I (and later to Charles I).
Harvey was the first person to correctly describe blood's circulation in the body. He showed that arteries and veins form a complete circuit. The circuit starts at the heart and leads back to the heart. The heart's regular contractions drive the flow of blood around the whole body.
Harvey made the momentous medical discovery that the flow of blood must be continuous and that its flow must be in one direction only. This discovery sealed his place in the history of medicine.
He is recognized as the man who discovered and published the first accurate description of the human circulatory system, based on his many years of experiments and observations as a scientist and physician .
WILLIAM HARVEY
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