Henry Gray facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Henry Gray
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| Born | 1827 |
| Died | 13 June 1861 (aged 34) Belgravia, London, England
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| Resting place | Highgate Cemetery (west side) |
| Known for | Gray's Anatomy |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Anatomy |
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Henry Gray (1827 – 13 June 1861) was a British anatomist and surgeon. He is most famous for writing the book Gray's Anatomy. This book is still used by medical students today! He became a member of the Royal Society (a group of important scientists) when he was only 25 years old.
Contents
Henry Gray's Life Story
Henry Gray was born in Belgravia, London, in 1827. He lived most of his life in London. In 1842, when he was about 15, he started studying at St George's Hospital in London. People who knew him said he was a very careful and organized student. He learned about the human body by taking it apart himself, which is called dissection. This was a slow but very valuable way to learn.
Early Achievements and Awards
Even while he was still a student, Henry Gray won an important prize in 1848. This prize was from the Royal College of Surgeons of England. He won it for an essay about the nerves of the human eye. He also compared the eyes of humans to those of other vertebrate animals (animals with backbones).
In 1852, at just 25 years old, he was chosen to be a Fellow of the Royal Society. This is a big honor for a scientist. The next year, he won another major award, the Astley Cooper prize. He received this for his detailed work on the spleen, an organ in the body.
Creating Gray's Anatomy
In 1858, Henry Gray published the first edition of his famous book, Anatomy. This first book was 750 pages long and had 363 pictures. He was very lucky to have help from his friend, Henry Vandyke Carter. Carter was a talented artist and used to teach anatomy at St. George's Hospital. He drew all the pictures for the book. These excellent drawings helped make the book very popular right away.
The first edition of the book was dedicated to Sir Benjamin Collins Brodie, another important medical figure. Henry Gray prepared a second edition of the book, which came out in 1860. Even today, the book is still published as Gray's Anatomy. It is known around the world as a very important textbook for medical students.
Henry Gray worked at St. George's Hospital in many roles. He taught anatomy, managed the museum, and gave lectures. In 1861, he was hoping to become an assistant surgeon there.
Henry Gray's Death
Sadly, Henry Gray became very sick with smallpox. This was a very dangerous disease where many spots appear on the skin and join together. It is thought that he caught the illness while taking care of his ten-year-old nephew, Charles Gray. His nephew eventually got better.
On June 13, 1861, Henry Gray was supposed to have an interview for a very important job at St. George's Hospital. But he died that day at the age of 34. He was buried at Highgate Cemetery. Henry Gray had been vaccinated against smallpox when he was a child. However, the early vaccines were not as strong as the ones we have today.
Henry Gray's Important Books and Essays
- The Origin, Connections, and Distribution of Nerves to the Human Eye and its Appendages, illustrated by Comparative Dissections of the Eye in Other Vertebrate Animals (1848) - This was an essay he wrote.
- On the Structure and Use of Spleen (1854) - This book had drawings by Henry Vandyke Carter.
- Descriptive and Surgical Anatomy 1st Edition (August 1858) - This is the first version of what we now call Gray's Anatomy. It was also illustrated by Henry Vandyke Carter.
- Descriptive and Surgical Anatomy 2nd Edition (December 1860) - This was the second version of Gray's Anatomy. It had drawings by Henry Vandyke Carter and John Gulse Westmacott.
See also
In Spanish: Henry Gray para niños
