Thomas WillisBorn 27 Jan 1621; died 11 Nov 1675 at age 54.English physician who made important contributions to anatomy, particularly of the brain and nervous system. In De febribus (1659) he significantly advanced epidemiology with an examination of epidemics of smallpox, influenza, plague, war-typhus, measles, and the first medical description of the typhoid fever. As part of his investigation of the brain's circulation, he injected wax into the blood vessels, which enabled him to see a ring of vessels still known as the "circle of Willis." He identified a type of diabetes (diabetes mellitus). A club of scientists including Robert Boyle, Christopher Wren and John Wilkins met in his rooms (1648-9) in Oxford. A number of them became founding members of the Royal Society of London.« |
