Galen was a Greek physician, surgeon, and philosopher. He was one of the most important contributors to the field of medicine. He was born in 129 AD to a wealthy family. Galen admired his father greatly. He studied medicine and built a reputation as a physician. When soldiers returned from battle, they brought viruses, smallpox, measles, etc. Galen’s ability to identify and treat these diseases set him apart from other doctors.
Galen was also a writer. He wrote over 400 books. His major publications were On the Doctrines of Hippocrates and Plato and On the Diagnosis and Cure of the Soul’s Passion. Galen discovered that arteries contain blood not air. He also knew the heart pumped blood, but he never understood how the blood circulated throughout the body.
Galen died in 199 AD at the age of 70. His influence over medicine was grand. Galen shared his knowledge of medicine through his books. They were still used during the Middle Ages and were a primary source of information on medicine.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/769263_8
mrsallamerican 
As someone who loves the field of medicine, I thought that this was extremely interesting. Typically, when I think of people of medicine, the first people that come to mind are usually Hippocrates, Louis Pasteur or Alexander Fleming. However, I did not recognize Galen of Pergamon and all his major contributions so I enjoyed finding out something new. I thought it was really impressive how Galen was able to identify different diseases. During this time, Galen’s discoveries seem to be far more advanced than his peers, and that he was able to share the knowledge that he gained through writing books.
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I found this blog post to be very interesting — I’m not much of a history buff, so it’s cool to learn about lesser-known historical figures that I probably wouldn’t have been able to learn about otherwise. Medicine is something that a lot of take for granted today, so it’s especially cool to learn about people who were the founding fathers of medicine, people who had no idea how many lives their work would save generations after they had died. Again, really informative and concise post! Me gusta, amiga.
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