How Heart Function Was Understood

By chans23
  • Jan 1, 1514

    Andreas Vesalius

    Andreas Vesalius
    Andreas Vesalius believed that dissecting human bodies was needed to understand the human body in detail, though many physicians did not. At the time, cutting human bodies was illegal. In 1529, a judge was interested in Vesalius's theory and gave the bodies of dead criminals to him. This way, Vesalius had a better advantage than Galen and could fully understand the human body by disecting them. During Vesalius's time, scientists understood the human anatomy because of Galen, which was only based
  • Jan 1, 1578

    William Harvey

    William Harvey
    William Harvey, an English man, studied at Cambridge University until he went to the University of Padua, located in Italy. Fabricius, his tutor at Padua, was a famous physician and studied anatomy. Harvey, encouraged by Fabricius, started to research the anatomy of the human body, and he started with Vesalius. His theory, based on Vesalius's work, was that the heart was a pump and pumped the blood in a circuler direction. To prove his theory, Harvey need to collect evidence and do experiments.
  • Claudius Galen (AD 129-216)

    Claudius Galen (AD 129-216)
    Claudius Galen, a Greek doctor, had an interest in the anatomy of the body. Therefore, he started to cut up pigs, goats and sheep, using the results to the human body. He believed liver produced blood and was used by the body. Galen wrote book which turned out to be used to train doctors. The Catholic Church believed his theories, even though they were inaccurate, and other scientists could not argue against them.
  • Period: to Jan 1, 1578

    Timespan