News

Robert Willis

linguist

Robert Willis

Scottish physician, librarian, and medical historian

0members1here now

Ask Genius Site

Robert Willis

Scottish physician, librarian, and medical historian

0members1here now

Ask Genius Site

Not who you're looking for? Others named Robert Willis: American windsurfer · Anglican priest, theologian and music composer (1947–2024) · English diplomat (1868-1921) · longest serving minister of St. Paul's Church (Halifax) (182

Robert Willis was a Scottish physician, librarian, and medical historian.

Occupation: linguist, physician, librarian, medical historian
Citizenship: Scotland
Born: 1799
Died: September 21, 1878

Family

Anne Willissibling Frances Willissibling Agnes Willissibling

The works of William Harvey ..known for An anatomical disquisition on the motion of the heart & blood in animalsknown for University of Edinburgheducated at Royal High Schooleducated at Royal Society of Londonmember of Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxonymember of Scotlandcountry of citizenship

Article

Robert Willis (1799 – 21 September 1878) was a Scottish physician, librarian, and medical historian.

Contents

Education

Willis was born in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Robert Willis, was a wine merchant, married to Agnes (née Hay). He was educated at the High School of Edinburgh, where he formed a lifelong friendship with his contemporary James Syme, who would become a surgeon and marry one of Willis's sisters, Ann(e) (died 1840). Their daughter, Robert's niece, Agnes Syme Lister, became a botanist and married the pioneer of antiseptic surgery, Joseph Lister.

September 21, 1878

Everything about Robert Willis →

Related journals

Family

Anne Willis Frances Willis Agnes Willis

Connected

The works of William Harvey ..An anatomical disquisition on the motion of the heart & blood in animals University of Edinburgh Royal High School Royal Society of London Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony Scotland

Live room · 1 here

Be the first in the room — members see you arrive.

Join the room

Robert Willis was a Scottish physician, librarian, and medical historian.

Occupation: linguist, physician, librarian, medical historian
Citizenship: Scotland
Born: 1799
Died: September 21, 1878

Family

Anne Willissibling Frances Willissibling Agnes Willissibling

The works of William Harvey ..known for An anatomical disquisition on the motion of the heart & blood in animalsknown for University of Edinburgheducated at Royal High Schooleducated at Royal Society of Londonmember of Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxonymember of Scotlandcountry of citizenship

Not who you're looking for? Others named Robert Willis: American windsurfer · Anglican priest, theologian and music composer (1947–2024) · English diplomat (1868-1921) · longest serving minister of St. Paul's Church (Halifax) (182

Article

Robert Willis (1799 – 21 September 1878) was a Scottish physician, librarian, and medical historian.

Contents

Education

Willis was born in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland. His father, Robert Willis, was a wine merchant, married to Agnes (née Hay). He was educated at the High School of Edinburgh, where he formed a lifelong friendship with his contemporary James Syme, who would become a surgeon and marry one of Willis's sisters, Ann(e) (died 1840). Their daughter, Robert's niece, Agnes Syme Lister, became a botanist and married the pioneer of antiseptic surgery, Joseph Lister.

Work as a librarian (1828–1845)

Willis compiled a catalogue of the books of the College of Surgeons which was published in 1831 (Cope, 1959)

Medical practice (1846–1878)

Willis lived and practised at The Homestead, Barnes, in succession to Dr. John Scott, from 1846 till his death.

Family

Willis's son, Robert Watson Willis, served as secretary of the Football Association, and built Hinxton House, East Sheen, in 1877.

Scholarly work

Willis is remembered for his scholarly translation from Latin of the complete works of William Harvey, published by the Sydenham Society in 1847 (Sykes, 2001).

Confusion with Robert Willis (1800–1875)

The acoustic work of another man with the same name, Robert Willis (1800–1875), is often mistakenly attributed to Willis. This is for instance the case in Robert Beyer's Sounds of Our Times: Two Hundred Years of Acoustics (1998). Sometimes, it is the other way round: Thierry Mandoul's Entre raison et utopie: l'Histoire de l'architecture d'Auguste Choisy (2008) erroneously gives the dates 1799–1878 for the Willis who worked in architecture.

Works by Willis

Robert Willis: Translation of Spurzheim's ‘Anatomy of the Brain', 1826 link

Robert Willis: Translation of Pierre Rayer's 'Treatise on diseases of the skin', 1835

A theoretical and practical treatise on the diseases of the skin 1845 edition

Robert Willis: Urinary Diseases and their Treatment, 1838 link

Robert Willis: Illustrations of cutaneous disease, 1839–1841

Robert Willis: On the Treatment of Stone in the Bladder, 1842

(critical) Review by W.C., Dr. Willis on the Treatment of Stone in the Bladder, Provincial Medical Journal and Retrospect of the Medical Sciences, Vol. 4, No. 7 (21 May 1842), pp. 133–136 link

C. F. H. Marx and Robert Willis: On the decrease of disease effected by the progress of civilization, London, 1844 link

Robert Willis: Translation of Rudolph Wagner's ‘Elements of Physiology’, 1845 link

Robert Willis: The Works of William Harvey, M. D, London, 1847 link

Robert Willis: Translation of Spinoza's Tractatus Theologico-Politicus, 1862 link

Robert Willis: Benedict de Spinoza; His life, Correspondence, and Ethics, 1870 link

Robert Willis: Servetus and Calvin, London, 1877 link

Robert Willis: William Harvey, a history of the discovery of the circulation of the blood, 1878 link

Other references

Willis, Robert at Dictionary of National Biography

Roger Cooter: The Cultural Meaning of Popular Science: Phrenology and the Organization of Consent in Nineteenth-Century Britain, 1985 (page 299 has a biographical notice)

Herman Goodman: Notable contributors to the knowledge of dermatology, 1953

Victor Cornelius Medvei: A history of endocrinology, 1982

Proceedings of the Royal Medical & Chirurgical Society of London vol. viii, 1880, p. 390

The Collected Letters of Thomas and Jane Welsh Carlyle: October 1833 – December 1834, 1973

W. R. LeFanu: "Robert Willis – physician, librarian, medical historian", Proceedings of the XXIII International Congress of the History of Medicine, London, 2–9 September 1972, Volume 2, 1974, p. 1111

Alan H. Sykes: Sharpey's fibres: the life of William Sharpey, the father of modern physiology in England, 2001

Zachary Cope: The Royal College of Surgeons of England: a history, 1959

Barnes history

Charles R. Fikar, Oscar L. Corral: "Non-librarian health professionals becoming librarians and information specialists: results of an Internet survey", Bull Med Libr Assoc 2001 January; 89(1): 59–67.

Robert Paterson: Memorials of the life of James Syme, professor of clinical surgery in the University of Edinburgh, etc., 1874

Article from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), where it is maintained by volunteer editors.

Related journals

Family

Anne Willis Frances Willis Agnes Willis

Connected

The works of William Harvey ..An anatomical disquisition on the motion of the heart & blood in animals University of Edinburgh Royal High School Royal Society of London Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Lower Saxony Scotland