Richard Lower (physician)

Richard Lower (1631–17 January 1691) was a Cornish physician who played an important part in the development of medical science.

Lower was born in St Tudy, Cornwall and studied at Westminster School where he met John Locke, and Oxford, where he met Thomas Willis, founder of the Royal Society. He followed Willis to London, where he carried out research, some in partnership with Robert Hooke. His major work, Tractatus de Corde (1669) was concerned with the workings of the heart and lungs, and he experimented with blood transfusion, thus becoming the first Western scientist ever to perform a blood transfusion.

Lower also formed part of an informal research team, performing laboratory experiments at the University of Oxford during the Interregnum.