Raymond Vieussens

Raymond Vieussens was a French anatomist from Le Vigan in Quercy, born about 1635, though some sources place his birth as late as 1641. He studied medicine at the University of Montpellier, took his degree in 1670 and later became head physician at the Hotel Dieu Saint-Eloi there. Influenced by the English anatomist Thomas Willis, he did pioneering work in cardiology and studied the brain and spinal cord. He gave the first accurate descriptions of the left ventricle and several vessels of the heart and the first full description of mitral stenosis, and he described the centrum semiovale. Many structures bear his name, including Vieussens' valve, ansa and ganglia. His books include Neurographia universalis and Novum vasorum corporis humani systema. He died in 1715.