author
Robert Willis
1799–1878
A Scottish physician, librarian, and medical historian, he helped build one of Europe’s great medical libraries and wrote widely on the history of medicine. He is also remembered for bringing major scientific and philosophical works to English readers through translation and biography.
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About the author
Born in Leith in 1799, Robert Willis studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, graduating in 1819. He later practiced in London and became connected with both the Royal College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians, building a career that mixed medical work with scholarship.
Willis is especially notable for his work as a librarian and historian of medicine. From the late 1820s, he played an important part in developing the library of the Royal College of Surgeons into a major medical and anatomical collection. He also wrote and edited books on medical history, helping preserve and explain the lives and ideas of earlier physicians.
He is perhaps best known to modern readers for translating the works of William Harvey into English and for writing on subjects beyond medicine, including a book on Spinoza. He died on September 21, 1878, leaving behind a reputation as a careful scholar who connected medicine, history, and literature.