The Engine of Life: William Harvey

In 1628, a single book shattered two thousand years of unchallenged medical authority. For two millennia, the venerable doctrines of Galen dictated that the human heart was a mystical furnace and that blood was constantly created and consumed. William Harvey dared to look past the ancient texts, utilizing a revolutionary method of empirical observation and mathematical quantification to prove that the heart was a precise pump, driving the blood in a continuous, measurable circuit throughout the body. This comprehensive biography traces Harvey's turbulent journey from a merchant's son studying in Kent and Padua to the personal physician of two kings, whose deep-seated loyalty cost him his life's work and research during the chaos of the English Civil War. It illuminates not only the scientific genius behind De Motu Cordis, but also the private life, stoic character, and intellectual isolation of the man who risked everything. The Engine of Life is the definitive account of the scientist whose discovery established the human body as a rational, measurable system, laying the indisputable framework for modern physiology and changing humanity's perception of itself forever. Approx.150 pages, 28500 word count