page_title: William Sharpey
section_title: Academic career
hierarchical_section_title: William Sharpey / Academic career
caption_attribution_description: English: William Sharpey (1802–1880)
context_page_description: Prof William Sharpey FRS FRSE LLD was a Scottish anatomist and physiologist. He is described as the "Father of British Physiology".
context_section_description: Sharpey established himself in Edinburgh in 1829, and in the following year he obtained the fellowship of the College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, presenting a probationary essay On the Pathology and Treatment of False Joints. The diploma of fellow qualified him to become a teacher in Edinburgh; but in 1831 he again spent three months in Berlin. In 1831–1832, with Allen Thomson, who taught physiology, he gave a first course of lectures on systematic anatomy in the extramural school in Edinburgh. The association of Sharpey with Thomson lasted during the remainder of Sharpey's stay in Edinburgh. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1834, his proposer being Sir Robert Christison. At this time he lived at 3 Alva Street in Edinburgh's West End.
  In July 1836 Sharpey was appointed to the chair of anatomy and physiology in the University of London in succession to Jones Quain. In this capacity Sharpey gave the first complete course of lectures on physiology and minute anatomy. His lectures then continued for 38 years. Sharpey was appointed in 1840 one of the examiners in anatomy at the university of London, and he was also a member of the senate of the University. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society on 9 May 1839. In 1846 he described the skeletal loadbearing fibres that now bear his name, Sharpey's fibres. He was made a member of its council in 1844, and was appointed one of the secretaries in place of Thomas Bell in November 1853, an office which he held until his retirement. He was also for 15 years, from April 1861, one of the members appointed by the Crown on the general council of medical education and registration. Sharpey was also one of the trustees of the Hunterian Museum in Glasgow.
  In 1859 he received the honorary doctorate (LLD) for his literary works from the University of Edinburgh. 
  His pupils included Michael Foster, George Oliver, and Burdon Sanderson.
  Sharpey was a correspondent and friend of Charles Darwin. He was also on the Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science, and was also a Fellow of the Geological Society.
caption: William Sharpey in 1855
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72", "Image YResolution": "72", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "GIMP 2.6.11", "Image DateTime": "2012:07:23 20:32:08", "Image Artist": "National Portrait Gallery London", "Image ExifOffset": "192", "Thumbnail ImageWidth": "156", "Thumbnail ImageLength": "200", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "423", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "615"}