Western Culture Global Presents

The Top 100 Heroes of Western Culture
These individuals have most contributed to replacing ignorance with knowledge, savagery with civilization, disease with health, tyranny with liberty, poverty with abundance, and despair with happiness.



#24: Galen (129-200)

Galen of Pergamon was a Roman physician and arguably the one of the best medical minds of history. His medical theories dominated in Europe and elsewhere for over 1,500 years and were still influential well into the 19th century.

Galen crystallized the best work of the Greek medical schools which had preceded his time. In his day, Galen said virtually everything that could be said on anatomy. And as a supporter of observation and reason, it was Galen who first introduced experimentation to medicine.

The rediscovery of Galen’s ideas, along with several other Greek scientific and philosophical works, helped to ignite the Renaissance. Many of Galen’s specific views on human anatomy and medicine, however, were eventually proven false by Renaissance researchers, beginning with Vesalius in the 16th century.

Nevertheless, by following Galen's lead of emphasizing experimentation and reason, medical researchers were able to correct Galen’s inaccuracies and ultimately bring about giant advances in medicine and understanding of the human body.



Go to #25: James Madison

Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — Home
Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — by Numerical Order
Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — by Century
Top 100 Western Culture Heroes — by Category