Thomas Willis

Born in 1621, Thomas Willis was an English doctor whose work helped lay foundations for modern neurology. He studied and later practiced at Oxford, where he became known for careful clinical observation and for linking symptoms in living patients with findings from anatomy.

Willis wrote influential medical works on the brain, nerves, and diseases such as epilepsy. His name is most famously attached to the Circle of Willis, the arterial ring at the base of the brain, and he is widely remembered as one of the key early figures in the study of the nervous system.

He died in 1675 and was buried in Westminster Abbey, a sign of the high regard he earned in his lifetime. His reputation has lasted because his research brought together anatomy, bedside medicine, and a new curiosity about how the brain works.