- Herophilos
Infobox Scientist
name = Herophilos
caption = Herophilos
birth_date = 334 BC
birth_place =Chalcedon
death_date = 279 BC
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nationality =Greece
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field =Physician
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known_for =Scientific method ,Alexandrian school
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footnotes =Herophilos, sometimes Latinized Herophilus (335-280 BC), was a Greek physician. He was born in
Chalcedon in Asia Minor (now Kadiköy, Turkey). Together withErasistratus he is regarded as a founder of the great medical school of Alexandria. He was the first to base his conclusions on dissection of the human body.fact|date=August 2008 He studied the brain, recognizing it as the center of thenervous system and the site of intelligence. He also paid particular attention to the nervous system, distinguishing nerves fromblood vessel s and the motor from the sensory nerves. Other areas of his anatomical study include theeye ,liver ,pancreas , and the alimentary tract, as well as the salivary and genitalia. Amongst the latter, he is credited with the discovery of the ovum. [Connell SM. Aristotle and Galen on sex difference and reproduction: a new approach to an ancient rivalry. Studies In History and Philosophy of Science Part A 31(3): 405-27, September 2000 ] [ [http://books.google.ca/books?id=CyK2oKiLDTAC Galen. On Semen. DeLacy P (trans.) Akademie Verlag, 1992. p.147 l.22] ]His works were lost but were much quoted by
Galen in the 2nd century AD. Celsus in 'De Medicina' and the church leaderTertullian state that he vivisected at least 600 live prisoners (although it should be noted that Tertullian lived several centuries after Herophilos and may have had reasons to discredit what he saw as heresy). fact|date=August 2008Among the first scientists Herophilos is thought to be one of the founders of the
scientific method . He had introduced the experimental method to medicine, for he considered it essential to found knowledge on empirical bases. For that he was criticized byGalen for whom the experimental method contradicted rationality. Herophilus had also introduced many of the scientific terms used to this day to describe anatomical phenomena. He was among the first to introduce the notion of conventional terminology, as opposed to use of "natural names", using terms he created to describe the objects of study, naming them for the first time. His book on midwifery had a lasting influence. A part of the skull "torcular Herophili" is named after him.fact|date=August 2008Another figure by this name (Herophilus) was an impostor in the time of
Julius Caesar who pretended to be the grandson ofGaius Marius . Caesar banished him. [Valerius Maxiumus, "Dicta et facta memorabilia" 9.15.1]References
ources
* [http://books.google.ca/books?id=rGhlIfJZkVoC von Staden H. (ed. trans.) Herophilus: The Art of Medicine in Early Alexandria. Cambridge University Press, 1989 ISBN 0521236460, 9780521236461]
Other sources
* Galen. On the natural faculties. Brock AJ (trans.) Heinemann, London 1916. pp xii, 233
ee also
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Timeline of medicine and medical technology
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