Sir William Bowman, 1st Baronet

Sir William Bowman, 1st Baronet (20 July 1816 – 29 March 1892) was an English surgeon, histologist and anatomist. He is best known for his research using microscopes to study various human organs, though during his lifetime he pursued a successful career as an ophthalmologist.

Early life Born in Nantwich, Cheshire, he was third son of John Eddowes Bowman, a banker and botanist, and his wife Elizabeth Eddowes. The scholar Eddowes Bowman and the architect Henry Bowman were his elder brothers.

Bowman attended Hazelwood School near Birmingham from 1826. He was apprenticed first at age 16, according to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, to W. A. Betts at Birmingham; He was then under Joseph Hodgson, also at Birmingham General Hospital, in 1832.

In 1837 Bowman left Birmingham in 1837 to further his training as a surgeon and attended King's College London. There he served as a prosector under Robert Bentley Todd, a Professor of physiology.

In practice After completing his surgical training in 1844, Bowman practised as an ophthalmologist at the Royal London Ophthalmic Hospital (later known as Moorfields Eye Hospital). He was an early user of the ophthalmoscope invented by Hermann von Helmholtz in 1851.

In 1884, Queen Victoria created him as a baronet. He died at Joldwynds on 29 March 1892, and is buried in the neighbouring churchyard of Holmbury St. Mary. A memorial to him lies within St James's Church, Piccadilly.

Works Bowman's earliest notable work was on the structure of striated muscle, for which he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1841. At the age of 25, he identified what then became known as Bowman's capsule, a key component of the nephron. He presented his findings in 1842 in his paper "On the Structure and Use of the Malpighian Bodies of the Kidney" to the Royal Society and was awarded the Royal Medal. His collaboration with Todd led to the publication of the five-volume "Physiological Anatomy and Physiology of Man" (1843–1856) and "Cyclopaedia of Anatomy and Physiology" (1852), which detailed their research on microscopy and histology, relating minute anatomical observations to physiological functions. Their extensive use of the microscopes revolutionized the study of anatomy and physiology. Apart from the Bowman's capsule, other anatomical structures named after him include: Bowman's glands – in the olfactory mucosa Bowman's layer – the anterior limiting layer in the cornea

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Family On 28 December 1842, Bowman married Harriet, fifth daughter of Thomas Paget of Leicester, by whom he had seven children. She died at Joldwynds on 25 October 1900. He was succeeded in the title by his eldest son, Sir Paget Bowman.