Galen and William Harvey
By Henry Clark
Galen
Galen
Galen was a Roman physician
(doctor). He was born in 130 AD,
Pergamon, Turkey and died in
200 AD, Rome, Italy. He was son
too Aelius Nicon, who was
Greek. His full name was
actually Claudius Galenus.
Rome
What Was He Known For?
Galen's books show a
good knowledge of bone
structure. He also studied
the lungs, the muscles, the
heart, blood, and the
nervous system. He
conducted experiments on
pigs, and when he cut the
spinal cord in different
places he realised how the
nervous system takes
messages from the brain to
the muscles.
What else?
• Galen understood the
importance of the pulse
and that blood moved
around the body, but he
made some mistakes. For
example, he thought that
the liver made blood for
the veins and the heart
made blood for the
arteries.
William Harvey
William Harvey was an
English physician. He was
born on the 1st April in
Folkestone, 1578 and died on
the 3rd June in Roehampton,
London, 1657. He was son
too Thomas Harvey and
Joane Harvey. He studied at
the University of Cambridge,
Gonville and Caius College,
Cambridge and the University
of Padua.
What Was He Known For?
William Harvey was
known for discovering the
double circulatory
system. This means that
for every one circuit of
the body blood goes
through the heart twice.
Into the heart and then
to the lungs, then back to
the heart and pumped
around the body.
Blood Vessels- Tubes that blood
flows through
• William Harvey talked about blood vessels
called arteries and veins.
The Pulse and the Heart
• He was able to link the
pulse in the arteries to the
contractions of the left
ventricle. This meant he
connected the pumping of
the heart to the movement
of blood in the arteries.
Blood moving through the
arteries was coming from
the heart.
Veins and Valves
• He worked out that the
veins carry blood to the
heart.
• He realised that veins have
valves to prevent the
backflow of the blood.
• A valve is a bit like a one
way gate. It lets something
go through, but it can not
get back through the gate.
• He proved this by trying to
push liquids through the
valves, but it didn’t work
Another interesting thing!
• Witches!
• William Harvey was asked to
examine many women
accused of being witches.
He was asked to look for
marks which would lead to
people thinking they were
witches.
• When he examined them he
didn’t agree with other
people – he thought the
marks were normal. He
saved many lives.
Thanks for watching!