The Harvey Society, founded in 1905, sponsors a series of seven lectures annually that are open to the public and are attended by hundreds of scientists from New York City and environs. The lectures are held in Caspary Auditorium at The Rockefeller University. The Harvey lecture series is one of the most distinguished in the country and the annual books of the lectures are well known throughout the world. The lecturers, selected by the Society’s Council, are leading biomedical researchers from around the world. Most Nobel laureates in Physiology or Medicine have presented Harvey lectures. The leadership of the Harvey Society rotates among the biomedical research institutions in New York City and its Council is composed of members of these institutions. The Harvey Lectures are one of the great traditions in New York science and they are a place where scientists from different institutions meet regularly.

William Harvey [b. England, April 1, 1578, d. June 3, 1657] Harvey was the first to propose that the heart is a pumping organ that propels blood on a circular course through the body, leaving through arteries and returning to the heart through veins. He noted that blood spurts from a cut artery in conformity with muscular contractions of the heart, and observed that clamping a vein causes it to swell with blood on the side away from the heart. Source: History of Science and Technology, edited by Bryan Bunch and Alexander Hellemans. Copyright © 2004 by Houghton Mifflin Company.