Name Robert Willis | Role Physician | |
Books Spinoza: His Life, Correspondence and Ethics | ||
Robert Willis (1799, Leith – 21 September 1878, Barnes) was a Scottish physician, librarian, and medical historian.
Contents
- Education
- Work as a librarian 18281845
- Medical practice 18461878
- Scholarly work
- Confusion with Robert Willis 18001875
- Works by Willis
- References
Education
Willis was born at Leith of a good Edinburgh family. His father was Robert Willis, a merchant at Leith. He was educated at the High School of Edinburgh where he formed a lifelong friendship with his contemporary James Syme who became one of the greatest surgeons (LeFanu, 1974). In fact, Willis's sister married Syme. He graduated at Edinburgh (1819), went to the College of Surgeons (1823), the College of Physicians (1837), and was the first librarian of the College of Surgeons in London (1828–45).
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. His son, R. W. Willis, built Hinxton House, East Sheen, 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 work of Robert Willis (1800–1875) on acoustics is often mistakenly attributed to Robert Willis (1799–1878). This is for instance the case in Beyer's "Sounds of Our Times" (1998). Sometimes, it is the other way round, and Thierry Mandoul's "Entre raison et utopie: l'Histoire de l'architecture d'Auguste Choisy" (2008) gives the dates (1799–1878) for the Willis who worked in architecture.