Who confirmed the existence of capillaries after William Harvey’s death?

The existence of capillaries—the minute vessels that connect arteries and veins—was confirmed by the Italian physician and biologist Marcello Malpighi in 1661, several years after the death of William Harvey.12

While Harvey had correctly postulated the existence of these vessels to complete his theory of blood circulation, he lacked the technology to observe them directly. Malpighi utilized the microscope to identify and describe the pulmonary and capillary network, providing the essential anatomical evidence that validated Harvey’s work and disproved the ancient belief that blood was consumed by the body in the periphery.132