author
Richard Fowler
1765–1863
Remembered for an exceptionally long life in medicine, this English physician also wrote on galvanism, longevity, and the workings of the mind. He spent most of his career in Salisbury, where his scientific curiosity and public spirit left a lasting mark.
1 Audiobook
About the author
Richard Fowler was an English physician born in London in 1765 who studied medicine in Edinburgh and later settled in Salisbury. He became closely associated with the Salisbury Infirmary, serving there for many years, and was noted in later accounts for having lived to the remarkable age of 97.
He also published a range of thoughtful works. His writing includes Experiments and Observations Relative to the Influence Lately Discovered by M. Galvani and Commonly Called Animal Electricity, as well as books on longevity and on the mental life of people who were blind and deaf. Taken together, they show a doctor interested not just in treatment, but in big questions about the body, perception, and human experience.
Later in life, Fowler helped found what became the Salisbury Museum, adding a civic legacy to his medical one. He died in 1863, leaving behind a reputation for long service, wide curiosity, and unusual intellectual energy well into old age.