Thomas Willis' legacy on the 400th anniversary of his birth

Hélio Afonso Ghizoni Teive1,2, Léo Coutinho1, Carlos Henrique Ferreira Camargo2

  • 1Universidade Federal do Paraná, Hospital de Clínicas, Departamento de Clínica Médica, Serviço de Neurologia, Curitiba PR, Brazil.

To celebrate the 400th anniversary of the birth of Thomas Willis, his main contributions to the development of neurosciences, in particular neurology, are presented. Willis coined the term neurology and contributed significantly to the field of neuroanatomy, with the description of the arterial circle-located at the base of the brain-, which bears his name. He also described the striatum and cranial nerves. Furthermore, as a clinical neurologist, Willis participated in the description of various diseases, including myasthenia gravis and restless legs syndrome.

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