The links between the medical school of Bologna and the Hellenic medical world.

A significant number of outstanding Greek physicians had had their studies or post graduation courses at the University of Bologna during the period of the 17th-19th century. As a brief outline, six (6) eminent figures should be mentioned: 1. Alexander Mavrocordatos (1641-1709), the outstanding politician and diplomat of his time; 2. John Baptist Charvouris (1722-1804), Professor of the University of Turin and Padova; 3. Marcos Charvouris (1731-1808), Professor of Chemistry at the University of Padova; 4. Angelos Tsoulatis (1732-1798), one of the first scientists to apply the inoculation of smallpox in Greece; 5. John Vilaras (1771-1823), well-known author and poet; 6. Dionisios Pyrros (1777-1853), philosopher and physician, who was the first president of the Medical Society of Athens (1835). Among the great number of significant scientific papers written by the above mentioned authors, the most outstanding is "Pneumaticum instrumentum circulandi sanguinis sive de motu et usu pulmonum (1664) by A. Mavrocordatos, which is believed to be the most important study on the blood circulation after that by W. Harvey's entitled Exercitatio anatomica de motu cordis et sanginis in animalibus (1628). It should be concluded, that through educating Greeks at its medical school, many of whom excelled in Greece and abroad, the University of Bologna influenced positively the Hellenic medical world.