William Harvey and the Undercurrents of Science

Abstract

Cardiovascular medicine is prominent in the public eye owing to both the high prevalence of cardiovascular disorders and the string of spectacular scientific discoveries that have marked this discipline's development. The heart transplants, the relief of symptoms experienced after coronary stenting or coronary artery bypass grafts, and, in recent decades, the progress in cardiovascular disease prevention make cardiovascular medicine a model of the benefits of medical science. The realm of the heart has also been explored by poets and writers, albeit in quite a different dimension. One could argue that cardiovascular science, in the modern sense, started with William Harvey (1578–1657) (1). Harvey's work is a convenient marker of the paradigm shift from speculation toward observation and experiment-based knowledge. Harvey developed a coherent theory of blood circulation and provided experimental—if partial—proof. He contradicted widely held views propounded by the Roman physician Galen (c.129–216 AD), who held that the blood was produced in the liver and was used up as it reached the tissues. Harvey was born in Folkestone, a small English coastal town. At the age of 15, he received a scholarship to Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge to study medicine. In 1599, he traveled to Padua in Italy and stayed there until …