- William Harvey was born in 1578 in Folkstone, England.
- The eldest of seven sons, Harvey received a Bachelor of Arts degree from Cambridge in 1597. He then studied medicine at the University of Padua, receiving his doctorate in 1602. By all measures, Harvey was successful.
- After he finished his studies at Padua, he returned to England and set up practice. He then married Elizabeth Brown, daughter of the court physician to Queen Elizabeth I and King James I. This put in him in position to be noticed by the aristocracy, and Harvey quickly moved up the ladder. Eventually, he became court physician to both King James I and King Charles I.
- While acting as court physician, Harvey was able to conduct his research in human biology and physiology.
- Harvey focused much of his research on the mechanics of blood flow in the human body. Most physicians of the time felt that the lungs were responsible for moving the blood around throughout the body.
- Harvey's experiments involved both direct dissection and physiological experiments on animals. His observations of dissected hearts showed that the valves in the heart allowed blood to flow in only one direction. Direct observation of the heartbeat of living animals showed that the ventricles contracted together, dispelling Galen's theory that blood was forced from one ventricle to the other. Dissection of the septum of the heart showed that it contained arteries and veins, not perforations.
- Category. "Circulatory System."Biology. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 June 2012. <http://biology.about.com/library/organ
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