Galen
129 – 216 Greek physician, philosopher
The physician whose theories ruled medicine until the Renaissance.
- Religion
- Greek polytheism, with a belief in purposeful design in the body that later suited Christian and Islamic readers.
- Affiliations
- Physician to Roman emperors. No secret society.
Galen combined anatomy, physiology, and philosophy into a system that dominated Western and Islamic medicine for over a thousand years. His work on dissection and the pulse advanced the field, though some errors lasted just as long. Vesalius and Harvey finally corrected him.