Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Thomas Willis, his Life, Legacy, and the Revolutionary Advances Made in Medicine Including in the Field we now know as Neuroscience Cover

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

Open Access
|Oct 2025

References

  1. à Wood, A. (1815). Athenae Oxonienses: An Exact History of All the Writers and Bishops who Have Had Their Education in the University of Oxford. To which are Added the Fasti, Or Annals of the Said University (Vol. 5): FC & J. Rivington.
  2. Arráez Aybar, L. A., Navia Álvarez, P., Fuentes Redondo, T., & Bueno López, J. L. (2015). Thomas Willis, a pioneer in translational research in anatomy (on the 350th anniversary of Cerebri anatome). Journal of anatomy, 226(3), 289–300.
  3. Barcia Goyanes, J. J., & Evans, N. (1995). Notes on the historical vocabulary of neuroanatomy. History of Psychiatry, 6(24), 471–482.
  4. Breathnach, C. (1996). Thomas Willis (1621–1675): First lines in Neuropsychiatry. Irish Journal of Psychological Medicine, 13(3), 122–123.
  5. Breathnach, C. S., & Moynihan, J. B. (2009). Intensive care 1650: the revival of Anne Greene (c. 1628–59). Journal of Medical Biography, 17(1), 35–38.
  6. Brock, J. (1966). John Radcliffe and his Oxford medical heritage. South African Medical Journal, 40(18), 406–415.
  7. Burns, J. L. (2009). The Scientific Method through the Lens of Neuroscience; From Willis to Broad. Paper presented at the Forum on Public Policy Online.
  8. Burton, T. (1828). Diary of Thomas Burton, 3: Member in the Parliaments of Oliver and Richard Cromwell from 1656 to 1659: Henry Colburn.
  9. Çağatay, Ü. (2004). Dr. Thomas Willis’ famous eponym: the circle of Willis. Turkish Journal of Medical Sciences, 34(4), 271–274.
  10. Caplan, L. (2000). Posterior circulation ischemia: then, now, and tomorrow: the Thomas Willis lecture—2000. Stroke, 31(8), 2011–2023.
  11. Caplan, L. R., & Aggarwal, A. (2022). Thomas Willis: Anatomy of the Brain and Its Vasculature. In Stories of Stroke: Key Individuals and the Evolution of Ideas (pp. 31–36). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  12. Caron, L. (2015). Thomas Willis, the restoration and the first works of neurology. Medical History, 59(4), 525–553.
  13. Cavalcanti, D. D., Feindel, W., Goodrich, J. T., Dagi, T. F., Prestigiacomo, C. J., & Preul, M. C. (2009). Anatomy, technology, art, and culture: toward a realistic perspective of the brain. Neurosurgical focus, 27(3), E2.
  14. Choudhari, K. A., Sharma, D., & Leyon, J. J. (2008). Thomas Willis of the “circle of Willis”. Neurosurgery, 63(6), 1185–1191.
  15. Compston, A. (2021). ‘All manner of ingenuity and industry’: A bio-bibliography of Thomas Willis 1621–1675: Oxford University Press.
  16. Compston, A. (2023). Thomas Willis. In C. Hollings & M. McCartney (Eds.), Oxfords SedleianProfessors of Natural Philosophy: The First 400 Years (pp. 29–60). Online Edition.
  17. Cook, H. J. (2019). The decline of the old medical regime in Stuart London: Cornell University Press.
  18. Cranefield, P. F. (1961). A seventeenth century view of mental deficiency and schizophrenia: Thomas Willis on” Stupidity or foolishness”. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 35 (4), 291–316.
  19. Creighton, C. (2020). History of epidemics in Britain: e-artnow.
  20. da Mota Gomes, M., Gonçalves, L. L., Cheniaux, E., & Nardi, A. E. (2023). King George III of England and Queen Maria I of Portugal: bipolar disorder and prince regents as common features of their reigns. Trends in Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, 45, e20210315.
  21. Dalley, A. F. (2002). Thomas Willis 1621–1675. Clinical Anatomy, 15(1), 2–3.
  22. Davies, C. S. L. (2008). The youth and education of Christopher Wren. The English Historical Review, 123(501), 300–327.
  23. Davies, G. (1935). The army and the downfall of Richard Cromwell. The Huntington Library Bulletin(7), 131–167.
  24. Davis, J. (2015). Oliver Cromwell. The Oxford Handbook of the English Revolution, 223–242.
  25. Descartes, R. (2010). Cerebri anatome: Thomas Willis and his circle. JR Coll Physicians Edinb, 40, 277–279.
  26. Dewhurst, K. (1962). Thomas Sydenham (1624–1689) reformer of clinical medicine. Medical History, 6(2), 101–118.
  27. Dewhurst, K. (1964). Commemoration of the Septencentenary of Merton College, Oxford. In: SAGE Publications.
  28. Dewhurst, K. (1972). Some letters of Dr. Thomas Willis (1621–1675). Medical History, 16(1), 63–76.
  29. Dewhurst, K. (1980). Thomas Willis’s Oxford lectures: Sandford Oxford.
  30. Dewhurst, K. (1982). Thomas Willis and the foundations of British neurology. In (pp. 327–346): Raven Press, New York.
  31. Donagan, B. (2010). War in England 1642–1649: OUP Oxford.
  32. Donovan, A. J. (2004). Richard Lower, MD, physician and surgeon (1631–1691). World Journal of Surgery, 28, 938–945.
  33. Dow, R. S. (1940). Thomas Willis as a comparative neurologist. Annals of Medical History, 2(3), 181.
  34. Doyle, C. C. (2001). Christopher Wren’s First Published Work. ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes and Reviews, 14(3), 19–23.
  35. Dumitrescu, A. M., Costea, C. F., Cucu, A. I., Dumitrescu, G. F., Turliuc, M. D., Scripcariu, D. V., . . . Bogdănici, C. M. (2020). The discovery of the circle of Willis as a result of using the scientific method in anatomical dissection. Romanian Journal of Morphology and Embryology, 61(3), 959.
  36. Dunn, R. (2015). Breaking a tradition: Hester Pulter and the English emblem book. The Seventeenth Century, 30(1), 55–73.
  37. Eadie, M. J. (2003). A pathology of the animal spirits – the clinical neurology of Thomas Willis (1621–1675) Part II – Disorders of intrinsically abnormal animal spirits. Journal of Clinical Neuroscience, 10(2), 146–157. doi:<a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-5868(02)00164-9" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="text-signal-blue hover:underline">https://doi.org/10.1016/S0967-5868(02)00164-9</a>
  38. Engelhardt<sup>1</sup>, E., &amp; Levy, G. (2021). The arterial circle described by Willis, and the contribution of his predecessors. Revista Brasileira de Neurologia, 57(4), 40–46.
  39. Ethelbert, C. (1916). A History of the Willis Family of New England and New Jersey. Richmond VA: Whitmore and Garrett Inc.
  40. Feindel, W. (1962a). Restoration Of Memorial To Dr. Thomas Willis (1621–75) In Westminster Abbey. The British Medical Journal, 1 (5277), 552–553.
  41. Feindel, W. (1962b). Thomas Willis (1621–1675)—the founder of neurology. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 87(6), 289.
  42. Feindel, W. (1969). “ Fenny Poppers”. A quaint celebration for Dr. Thomas Willis. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 101(8), 13.
  43. Feindel, W. (2004). Soul Made Flesh: The English Civil War and the Mapping of the Mind In. London: Oxford University Press.
  44. Finger, S., &amp; Finger, S. (2005). 85 Thomas Willis: The Functional Organization of the Brain. In Minds Behind the Brain: A history of the pioneers and their discoveries (pp. 0): Oxford University Press.
  45. Flis, N. (2012). Drawing, Etching, and Experiment in Christopher Wren’s Figure of the Brain. Interdisciplinary Science Reviews, 37 (2), 145–160.
  46. Frank, R. G. (1990). Thomas Willis and his circle: brain and mind in seventeenth-century medicine. The languages of psyche: mind and body in enlightenment thought, 107–146.
  47. Frank, R. G. (1996). Thomas Willis and His Circle: Brain and Mind in Seventeenth-Century Medicine. In G. S. Rousseau (Ed.), The Languages of Psyche (pp. 107–146). Berkeley: University of California Press.
  48. French, R. K. (1994). The languages of William Harvey’s natural philosophy. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 49(1), 24–51.
  49. Ghosh, S. K. (2015). Human cadaveric dissection: a historical account from ancient Greece to the modern era. Anat Cell Biol, 48 (3), 153–169. doi:<pub-id pub-id-type="doi"><a href="https://doi.org/10.5115/acb.2015.48.3.153" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="text-signal-blue hover:underline">10.5115/acb.2015.48.3.153</a></pub-id>
  50. Gibson, W. C. (1970). The bio-medical pursuits of Christopher Wren. Medical History, 14 (4), 331–341.
  51. Gilboy, R. (1992). Crisis mortality in Civil War Oxford, 1642–1646. Revolution, 132.
  52. Gowing, L. (Producer). (2004). Greene, Anne (c. 1628–1659). Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.).
  53. Guerrini, A. (2016). The ghastly kitchen. History of science, 54(1), 71–97.
  54. Harrigan, M. R., &amp; Deveikis, J. P. (2012). Handbook of cerebrovascular disease and neurointerventional technique (Vol. 1): Springer Science &amp; Business Media.
  55. Harris, W. (1762). An Historical and Critical Account of the Life of Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland: A. Millar.
  56. Haslam, M. (1997). The Willis family and George III. History of Psychiatry, 8(32), 539–553.
  57. Hawkins, M. (2011). Piss profits: Thomas Willis, his diatribae duae and the formation of his professional identity. History of science, 49(1), 1–24.
  58. HEC. (1936). The Medical School At Oxford. The British Medical Journal, 1064–1066.
  59. Hierons, R., &amp; Meyer, A. (1962). Some priority questions arising from Thomas Willis’ work on the brain. In: SAGE Publications.
  60. Howse, C. (2009). The Myth of the Anatomy Lesson. The Daily Telegraph.
  61. Hughes, J. T. (1991). Eponymists in medicine.
  62. Thomas Willis (1621–75), his life and work. In: London, UK: Royal Society of Medicine Services Limited.
  63. Hughes, J. T. (1991). Thomas Willis 1621–1675: His Life and Work: Royal Society of Medicine Services.
  64. Hughes, J. T. (2000). Thomas Willis (1621–1675). Journal of neurology, 247(2), 151.
  65. Hughes, J. T. (2009). Thomas Willis 1621–1675, His Life and Work. Singapore Med J, 50 (10), 1041.
  66. Hunting, P. (2022). ‘To unlock the secret places of Man’s Mind’. Thomas Willis (1621–1675). Journal of Medical Biography, 30(3), 202–204.
  67. Jardine, L. (2004). On a Grander Scale: HarperCollins.
  68. Keele, K. D. (1967). Thomas Willis on the Brain-The Anatomy of the Brain and Nerves, by Thomas Willis, tercentenary edition (1664–1964) edited by William Feindel. Montreal, McGill University Press, 1965, 2 vols., illus., $37.50. Medical History, 11(2), 194–200.
  69. King, L. S. (1966). The Anatomy of the Brain and Nerves, (1681), 2 vol. Archives of Neurology, 15(3), 335–335. doi:<pub-id pub-id-type="doi"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/archneur.1966.00470150113017" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="text-signal-blue hover:underline">10.1001/archneur.1966.00470150113017</a></pub-id>
  70. Kramer, S. (1912). On the function of the circle of Willis. The Journal of experimental medicine, 15(4), 348.
  71. Lega, B. C. (2006). An essay concerning human understanding: how the Cerebri Anatome of Thomas Willis influenced John Locke. Neurosurgery, 58(3), 567–576.
  72. Liebeskind, D. S. (2003). Collateral circulation. Stroke, 34(9), 2279–2284.
  73. Lo, W. B., &amp; Ellis, H. (2010). The circle before Willis: a historical account of the intracranial anastomosis. Neurosurgery, 66(1), 7–18.
  74. Macalpine, I., &amp; Hunter, R. (1963). Three hundred years of psychiatry, 1535–1860: a history presented in selected English texts: Oxford University Press.
  75. Martensen, R. L. (1993). The circles of Willis: Physiology, culture, and the formation of the” neurocentric” body in England, 1640–1690: University of California, San Francisco.
  76. Mason, S. F. (1953). Science and Religion in 17th Century England. Past &amp; Present(3), 28–44.
  77. May, T. (1854). The History of the Parliament of England: Which Began November 3, 1640; with a Short and Necessary View of Some Precedent Years: University Press.
  78. McNabb, J. (2014). Thomas Willis: The faculties and his two cognitive frameworks. Brain and cognition, 91, 131–137.
  79. Meyer, A., &amp; Hierons, R. (1962). Observations on the History of the Circle of Willis. Medical History, 6(2), 119–130.
  80. Mitchell, P. D., Boston, C., Chamberlain, A. T., Chaplin, S., Chauhan, V., Evans, J., . . . Webb, H. (2011). The study of anatomy in England from 1700 to the early 20th century. Journal of anatomy, 219(2), 91–99.
  81. Molnár, Z. (2004). Thomas Willis (1621–1675), the founder of clinical neuroscience. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5(4), 329–335. Retrieved from <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn1369" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="text-signal-blue hover:underline">https://www.nature.com/articles/nrn1369</a>
  82. Molnár, Z. (2021). On the 400th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Willis. Brain, 144(4), 1033–1037.
  83. Monteiro, F. C., Nardi, A. E., &amp; Gomes, M. M. (2021). The 400th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Willis (1621–1675): an invaluable contributor to neuroscience. In (Vol. 44, pp. 225–226): SciELO Brasil.
  84. Neher, A. (2009). Christopher Wren, Thomas Willis and the depiction of the brain and nerves. Journal of Medical Humanities, 30, 191–200.
  85. Nichols, L. (2019). The Circle of Willis, aneurysms and subarachnoid haemorrhages: A historical narrative of parallels from observation to intervention. Australasian Journal of Neuroscience, 29(2), 12–21.
  86. Nichols, L. (2025). The Fateful Failed Hanging of Anne Greene. Australasian Journal of Neuroscience Volume, 35(1).
  87. O’Connor, J. P. (2003). Thomas Willis and the background to Cerebri Anatome. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, 96(3), 139–143.
  88. O’Neal, R. (2017). A love of ‘words as words’: metaphor, analogy and the brain in the work of Thomas Willis (1621–1675). Queen Mary University of London,
  89. Pearce, J. (2000). The circle of Willis (1621–75). Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery &amp; Psychiatry, 69(1), 86–86.
  90. Peters, T. J., &amp; Beveridge, A. (2010). The madness of King George III: a psychiatric reassessment. History of Psychiatry, 21(1), 20–37.
  91. Rana, P. (2005). Dr. Thomas Willis and his ‘Circle’ in the Brain. Nepal Journal of Neuroscience, 2, 77–79.
  92. Rengachary, S. S., Xavier, A., Manjila, S., Smerdon, U., Parker, B., Hadwan, S., &amp; Guthikonda, M. (2008). The legendary contributions of Thomas Willis (1621–1675): the arterial circle and beyond: Historical vignette. Journal of neurosurgery, 109(4), 765–775.
  93. Rose, F. C. (2012). History of British neurology: World Scientific.
  94. Scatliff, J., &amp; Johnston, S. (2014). Andreas Vesalius and Thomas Willis: their anatomic brain illustrations and illustrators. American Journal of Neuroradiology, 35(1), 19–22.
  95. Shaw, J. (2006). Miracles in enlightenment England: Yale University Press.
  96. Sinclair, H. M., &amp; Robb-Smith, A. H. T. (1950). A short history of anatomical teaching in Oxford. (No Title).
  97. Smith, L., &amp; Peters, T. (2017). ‘Details on the Establishment of Doctor Willis, for the Cure of Lunatics’(1796). History of Psychiatry, 28(3), 365–377.
  98. Still, G. F. (1931). The history of paediatrics: the progress of the study of diseases of children up to the end of the XVIIIth Century. (No Title).
  99. Symonds, C. (1955). The circle of Willis. British medical journal, 1(4906), 119.
  100. Symonds, C. (1960). Thomas Willis, FRS (1621–1675). In: The Royal Society London.
  101. Symonds, C., &amp; Feindel, W. (1969). Birthplace of Thomas Willis. British medical journal, 3 (5671), 648.
  102. Tabb, K. (2014). ‘Struck, As It Were, with Madness’: Phenomenology and Animal Spirits in the Neuropathology of Thomas Willis. In Brain, Mind and Consciousness in the History of Neuroscience (pp. 43–57): Springer.
  103. Tatu, L., Moulin, T., &amp; Monnier, G. (2005). The Discovery of Encephalic Arteries: From Johann Jacob Wepfer to Charles Foix. Cerebrovascular Diseases, 20(6), 427–432. doi:<pub-id pub-id-type="doi"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1159/000088980" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="text-signal-blue hover:underline">10.1159/000088980</a></pub-id>
  104. Taylor, J. (2019). “Newes from the dead”: an unnatural moment in the history of natural philosophy. In Shakespeare’s Things (pp. 206–223): Routledge.
  105. Teive, H. A. G., Coutinho, L., Camargo, C. H. F., Munhoz, R. P., &amp; Walusinski, O. (2022). Thomas Willis’ legacy on the 400th anniversary of his birth. Arquivos de neuropsiquiatria, 80, 759–762.
  106. Thompson, J. E. (1996). The evolution of surgery for the treatment and prevention of stroke: The Willis Lecture. Stroke, 27(8), 1427–1434.
  107. Unknown. (1963). THOMAS WILLIS (1621–1675). JAMA, 186(10), 948–949. doi:<pub-id pub-id-type="doi"><a href="https://doi.org/10.1001/jama.1963.03710100086022" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="text-signal-blue hover:underline">10.1001/jama.1963.03710100086022</a></pub-id>
  108. Uston, C. (2005). NEUROwords Dr. Thomas Willis’ famous eponym: the circle of Willis. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 14(1), 16–21.
  109. Veith, I. (1982). Willis’s Oxford Casebook (1650–52). Western Journal of Medicine, 137 (5), 473.
  110. Viets, H. (1917). A Patronal Festival for Thomas Willis (1621–1675) with Remarks by Sir William Osler, Bart., FRS. Annals of Medical History, 1(2), 118.
  111. Watkins, R. (1651). Newes from the Dead. In. Oxford: Leonard Lichfield.
  112. Weber, H. M. (1996). Paper bullets: print and kingship under Charles II: University Press of Kentucky.
  113. Wells, W. A. (1949). Dr. Thomas Willis (1621–1675). A great seventeenth century english anatomist and clinician who anticipated many modern discoveries. The Laryngoscope, 59 (3), 287–305.
  114. Wepfer, J. J. (1658). Observationes anatomicae ex cadaveribus eorum, quos sustulit apoplexia (Vol. 1): ap. Henr. Wetstenium.
  115. White, M. A. (2003). Meddlesome Henrietta Maria: the actual and perceived significance of Charles I’s wife during the English civil wars: National Library of Canada= Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, Ottawa.
  116. Wijdicks, E. F. (2021). Does Thomas Willis Resonate with Neurointensivists?—Some Thoughts 400 Years After his Birthdate. Neurocritical Care, 35, 605–607.
  117. William, P. (1650). [Letter from William Petty to Samuel Hartlib].
  118. Williams, A. (2002). “Of stupidity or folly”: Thomas Willis’s perspective on mental retardation. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 87 (6), 555–557.
  119. Williams, A. (2003). Thomas Willis’s practice of paediatric neurology and neurodisability. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 12(4), 350–367.
  120. Williams, A., &amp; Sunderland, R. (2001). Thomas Willis: the first paediatric neurologist? Archives of Disease in Childhood, 85(6), 506–509.
  121. Williams, A. N. (2003). Thomas Willis’ understanding of cerebrovascular disorders. Journal of Stroke and Cerebrovascular Diseases, 12 (6), 280–284.
  122. Willis, T. (1664). cerebri Anatome. London.
  123. Willis, T. (1681). An essay of the pathology of the brain and nervous stock in which convulsive diseases are treated of: London:: Printed by JB for T. Dring.
  124. Willis, T. (1684). An essay of the pathology of the brain and nervous stock in which convulsive diseases are treated of. London: Printed by JB for T. Dring.
  125. Wilson, M. D. (2012). The life and times of Thomas Willis and his impact on contemporary medicine. Journal of the History of the Neurosciences, 21(2), 127–131.
  126. Wolpert, S. M. (1997). The circle of Willis. AJNR: American Journal of Neuroradiology, 18(6), 1033.
  127. Worden, B. (2010). Oliver Cromwell and the Protectorate. Transactions of the Royal Historical Society, 20, 57–83.
  128. Wragge-Morley, A. (2018). Imagining the soul: Thomas Willis (1621–1675) on the anatomy of the brain and nerves. Progress in brain research, 243, 55–73.
  129. Yolton, J. W. (1991). Locke and French materialism: Oxford University Press.
  130. Zimmer, C. (2004). A distant mirror for the brain. Science, 303(5654), 43–44.
  131. Zimmer, C. (2005). Soul made flesh: the discovery of the brain--and how it changed the world: Simon and Schuster.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/ajon-2025-0014 | Journal eISSN: 2208-6781 | Journal ISSN: 1032-335X
Language: English
Page range: 52 - 91
Published on: Oct 10, 2025
Published by: Australasian Neuroscience Nurses Association
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 2 times per year

© 2025 Linda Nichols, published by Australasian Neuroscience Nurses Association
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.