William Harvey's story

At one point in the early 1600s, an Englishman by the name of William Harvey emerged. The human body held a special fascination for Harvey, who was both a physician and a scientist.

As Harvey was contemplating the human heart one day, inspiration struck. He thought the heart was more than simply a muscle; it was also a pump that circulated blood throughout the body. Because conventional wisdom held that the heart just served as a repository for the soul, this concept was ground-breaking when it was first proposed.

Harvey devoted a great deal of time and energy studying the cardiovascular systems of humans and other animals in order to back up his theory. To better understand the heart's function, he dissected it, measured the volume of blood flowing through it, and constructed a working model.

Harvey persisted in his pursuit of cardiac understanding despite facing many obstacles. If his theory could be proven, it would be a huge step forward in medicine, he thought.

Harvey spent many years researching the inner workings of the heart before writing "Anatomy of the Heart." He presented his theory on how the heart circulated blood throughout the body and backed it up with evidence in this book.

To say that Harvey's work revolutionized understanding of the human body would be an understatement. Now we can see that Harvey was correct; his findings have been instrumental in saving many lives.

Think of William Harvey, the courageous scientist who spent his life probing the human body for answers, the next time your own heart beats in your chest.