Historical Figures

Alcmaeon

500 BCE

• Found that the brain was responsible for perception
• Renowned writer and physician
• Died in 400 BCE

Hippocrates

460 BCE

• First to describe many diseases/medical conditions
• First to believe diseases were caused naturally
• First documented chest surgeon
• Physician
• Died in 370 BC

Herophilus

335 BCE

• Emphasized use of experimental method in medicine
• Deduced veins only carry blood
• Differentiated between arteries and veins
• Measured a pulse using a water clock
• Proposed the brain housed intelligence
• Dissected human cadavers
• Differentiated between and placed importance on cerebrum and cerebellum
• Discovered different sections of the eye
• Differentiated between nerves and blood vessels. Also between motor and sensory nerves.
• Died in 280 BC

Claudias Galen

130

• Put great emphasis on clinical observation
• Believed in the healing powers of nature
• Believed in using the treatment of opposites
• Extended his knowledge by dissecting pigs and apes. He studied their bone structure and muscles.
• Died in 210 AD Rome, Italy

Leonardo da Vinci

Apr 15, 1452

• Father of paleontology
• Originator of the cross sectional anatomy
• Research on the brain led to the discoveries in neuroanatomy and neurophysiology
• Did human dissections
• Created lifelike drawings of every aspect of the human form

Andreas Vesalius

Dec 31, 1514

• Father of modern anatomy
• His book De Humani Corporis Fabrica(based on human dissection) transformed anatomy into a subject that relied on observations taken directly from human dissections
• Did hands on dissections as a primary teaching tool

William Harvey

Apr 1, 1578

• First known physician to describe completely and in detail the systematic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the brain and body by the heart
• Knowledge came from observations he made of blood flowing through the veins and arteries of living animals he cut open
• Died June 3, 1657 in London

Abraham Colles

Jul 23, 1773

• Wrote a treatise on surgical anatomy and introduced new terms
• Extensively studied the perineum and the inguinal ligament
• Professor of anatomy, surgery, and physiology at Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland
• Surgeon/physician
• Died on Nov. 16, 1843

Rene Laennec

Feb 17, 1781

• French physician
• Father of clinical auscultation
• Invented he stethoscope in 1816
• Learned through lectures
• Did private practices
• Became known for his studies of amenorrhea, the prostate gland, and tubercle lesions

Henry Gray

1800

• Responsible for writing Anatomy
• Discovered nerves in the human eye
• Was an anatomist and surgeon