A white man with greying hair wearing seventeenth century dress sits in a chair — William Harvey (1578-1657) by unknown artist, c. 1650. RCP museum X183

De motu cordis at 400

2028 marks the 400th anniversary of the publication of William Harvey’s Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanguinis in animalibus (Anatomical exercises about the motion of the heart and blood in animals), published by William Fitzer in Frankfurt-am-Main in 1628.

Although only 72 pages in length, Harvey’s book challenged fundamental tenets of orthodox physiology by redescribing the movement of the heart and demonstrating the circulation of the blood. Our understanding of the human body has never been the same since. Indeed, the practice of medicine and the therapeutic interventions we rely upon today would not exist but for the conclusions and long reception of Harvey’s De motu cordis. Few historical works warrant a 400th anniversary celebration, but Harvey’s De motu cordis most certainly does. A coordinated international effort across multiple institutions and continents celebrating the anniversary year of De motu cordis is intended to highlight Harvey's achievement, the context of his discovery, and what we have learned and the future of cardiology and bio-medical research.

Conference 1: 'Harvey today', winter/spring 2028, London

A two-day conference presenting cutting-edge research in cardiology and aligned fields. A history strand will consider Harvey's position in and contribution to the Royal College of Physicians, drawing on its rich historical collections, with livestreamed keynotes from the University of Padua and the Berlin Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charité . Bursaries will support the attendance of early-career physicians, and the Warburg Institute will be the venue for a masterclass bringing together specialists across bibliographical, historical and medical fields.

Conference 2: 'Celebrating the quadricentennial of De motu cordis', 20-21 October 2028, Los Angeles

This conference will feature invited speakers as well as the inclusion of a Master Class and a viewing of the 2028 Harveian Oration delivered remotely from the Royal College of Physicians. The themes of Conference Two will be primarily historical, with historians discussing the intellectual, institutional, political, artistic, and cultural contexts of Harvey’s De motu cordis and its long reception.

Exhibitions

Museums and libraries around the globe will be holding exhibitions and displays devoted to Harvey's life, work, precursors, and legacy. Details of these will be publicised here as they become available.

It is absolutely necessary to conclude that the blood in the animal body is impelled in a circle, and is in a state of ceaseless motion; that this is the act or function which the heart performs by means of its pulse.

William Harvey, 1628

Get involved

Contact history@rcp.ac.uk if you are interested in participating in, or supporting, the Harvey 2028 celebrations.

Planning Institutions

Berliner Medizinhistorisches Museum der Charite Getty The Huntington Institute for the International History of Medicine rijksmuseum boerhaave Warburg Institute

Executive Committee

Gideon Manning, Director, Institute for the International History of Medicine, Los Angeles, USA
Katie Birkwood, Rare Books and Special Collections Librarian, Royal College of Physicians, London, UK
Joel Klein, Molina Curator of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, The Huntington Library, San Marino, USA

MDs' Planning Committee

Jeroen J. Bax, MD, Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Center, The Netherlands
Cristina Basso, MD, Director, Department of Cardio-Thoracic Vascular Sciences, University of Padova, Italy
W. Bruce Fye, MD, Emeritus Professor of Medicine and the History of Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, USA
Barry S. Coller, MD, David Rockefeller Professor of Medicine, Head, Allen and Frances Adler Laboratory of Blood and Vascular Biology, Rockefeller University, New York, USA
John Gordon Harold, MD, Professor, Cedars-Sinai Health Sciences University, Cedars-Sinai Smidt Heart Institute, USA
Paul Kligfield, MD, Professor Emeritus of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, USA
J. Mario Molina, MD, The Huntington Library, San Marino, USA
Diarmuid O’Shea MD, President Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Consultant Geriatrician, St Vincent’s University Hospital, Dublin, Ireland
Milton Packer, MD, Distinguished Scholar in Cardiovascular Science, Baylor University Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, USA & Visiting Professor, Imperial College, London, UK
Anita Simonds, MD, Harveian Librarian, Royal College of Physicians, Honorary Consultant in Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Royal Brompton & Harefield Hospital, Professor emeritus of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, National Heart & Lung Institute, Imperial College, London, UK

Historians’ Planning Committee

Prof. Maria Pia Donato, directrice de recherc CNRS, Institut d'Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine, Paris, France
Prof. dr. Maarten Van Dyck, Sarton Centre for History of Science and Humanities, Ghent University, Belgium
Prof. Anita Guerrini, Oregon State University and University of California, Santa Barbara, USA
Prof. Orly Lewis, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Department of Classics & PI: Digital Ancient Science Lab, Israel

Institutional Planning Committee

Monika Ankele, Director of the Berlin Museum of Medical History at Charité, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany
Erin Chiparo, Silver-Norman Curator of Dermatology, General Medicine, and Science, Lilly Library, Indiana University, USA
Cory Clover, Museum Manager/Curator at Folkestone Museum, UK
Daisy Cunynghame, Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, UK
Thisbe Gensler, Public Programs and Research Specialist, Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles, USA
Louisiane Ferlier, Digital Resources Manager, the Royal Society Collections, London, UK
Prof. dr. Mieneke te Hennepe, Professor by special appointment in the History of Medicine, Leiden University Medical Center, Curator of medical collections, Rijksmuseum Boerhaave, Dutch National Museum of the History of Science and Medicine, The Netherlands
Rachel Ingold, Curator History of Medicine Collections, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University, USA
Russell Johnson, Curator, History & Special Collections for the Sciences, Library Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Rolando Del Maestro, MD, PhD, William Feindel Professor Emeritus in Neuro-Oncology, Director, Neurosurgical Simulation and Artificial Intelligence Learning Centre, Honorary Osler Librarian, Osler Library of the History of Medicine, Montreal Neurological Institute and Hospital, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
Arlene Shaner, Historical Collections Librarian, New York Academy of Medicine, New York, USA
Bill Sherman, Director of the Warburg Institute, London, UK
Harriet Wheelock, Keeper of Collections, Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland