Heart Anatomy

William Harvey (1578-1657)

English physician, founder of modern physiology. He discovered the circulation of blood and the role of the heart in propelling it. Harvey was one of the most prominent doctors in England and physician to King James I and his son Charles I. He came to his conclusions not only by performing dissections but also by studying blood flow in live animals, and performing actual experiments (before, people believed that speculations alone are perfectly sufficient). Harvey’s findings were published in 1628 in his book, Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus (Anatomical Essay on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals). Harvey was incapable of observing capillaries but he proposed the existence of tiny vessels which connect the arterial and venous networks of the vessels.