Thomas Willis, his Life, Legacy, and the Revolutionary Advances Made in Medicine Including in the Field we now know as Neuroscience

November 2025 marks 350 years since the passing of Thomas Willis (b. 1621 – d.1675). Thomas was a pious man who was orthodox in his beliefs and charitable to the end. He lived in an era of political and religious instability, however, despite these turbulent times Thomas along with other colleagues made pioneering medical discoveries and completely changed our thinking and understanding of the human body and disease. He rewrote history and set in place our modern knowledge and understanding of the brain, cerebrovascular system and nervous system. As the English Civil War raged, Thomas’ formal medical training was cut short, but he used this to his advantage and undertook a vast range of practical, clinical, experimental and theoretical self-directed learning. Thomas’s discoveries and opportunities to understand the brain were influenced by his collaborative and clandestine partnerships, as well as chance meetings, including that with Anne Greene who had hung at the end of a hangman’s noose for over half an hour, only to be revived by Thomas and his colleagues. Whilst Thomas studied and wrote on many topics, his cumulating opus was the publication of Cerebri Anatome, in which he elicited polarised theories and explanations and changed neurology forever. This manuscript aims to cover Thomas’ life, family, the political and religious influences of the time and the impact of these on both his medical career, and work as a medical practitioner, anatomist, scientist and author.

Thomas Willis is undoubtedly the father of neurology and the study of the nervous system. His name is immortalised in the Circle of Willis and whilst every medical and nursing student learns of the Circle of Willis, there is much to learn about the man, his life, his allegiances and devotion to the Church of England, his theories, publications and legacy.