Timeline of development of knowledge about blood

100-200BC	Various	Chinese knew about the circulation of the blood and teachers used a system of bellows and bamboo tubes to demonstrate.
AD190	Galen	Believed that blood was produced in the liver and moved in the veins and arteries.
1242	Ibn an-Nafis	Showed that blood could not move through the septum, but moved around the lungs instead.
1543	Vesalius	Blood could not move through the septum.
1559	Columbo	Showed how blood circulates through the lungs, completing the circle.
1579	Fabricius	Saw the valves in the arteries.
1628	Harvey	Published full theory of circulation. Couldn't see how the blood moved between the veins and the arteries.
1661	Malpighi	Saw capillaries in the lungs.
1733	S. Hales	Measured blood pressure.
18/19th centuries	Various	Structure and chemical composition of the blood worked out.
1909	Landsteiner	Blood groups worked out.
1962	Perutz	Discovers haemoglobin

This page last updated on May 16, 2005