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Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy pp 1–9Cite as

Harvey, William

Born: 1578, Folkestone

Died: 1657, London

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Abstract

The natural philosopher William Harvey was born in Folkestone on April 1, 1578. He studied at the Gonville and Caius College in Cambridge, and from 1597 he focused attention on medicine. In 1599 he moved to the University of Padua, where he was enrolled in Medicine. After the graduation on April 25, 1602, he came back to London and obtained the acknowledgment of the title and the professional license in Cambridge. In 1607 he was promoted Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of London, and in 1609 he was enrolled as physician at the St. Barholomew’s Hospital. In 1618, King James I nominated Harvey as his physician. At the Royal College with the Lumleian Lectures, Harvey presented his preliminary ideas on the revolutionary theory of blood circulation that was summarized in the book Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (Frankfurt 1628) dedicated to his patron King Charles I. Harvey, aged 71 years, retired from public life and devoted himself entirely to his studies. In 1651 he published De generatione animalium where he advanced the theory of epigenesis. On June 3, 1657, at the age of 79, he died of cerebral apoplexy.

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References

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Cardiac, Thoracic and Vascular Sciences, University of Padua Medical School, Padua, Italy

    Gaetano Thiene & Cristina Basso

  2. Department of Linguistic and Literary Studies, University of Padua, Padua, Italy

    Daniela Marrone

Authors
  1. Gaetano Thiene
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  2. Cristina Basso
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  3. Daniela Marrone
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gaetano Thiene .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Università Ca’ Foscari Venezia Dept. of Philosophy a. Cultural Heritage, Venezia, Italy

    Marco Sgarbi

Section Editor information

  1. Center for the History of Philosophy and Science, Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands

    Hiro Hirai

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Thiene, G., Basso, C., Marrone, D. (2018). Harvey, William. In: Sgarbi, M. (eds) Encyclopedia of Renaissance Philosophy. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_398-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02848-4_398-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02848-4

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