He has been called "the father of endocrinology" because of a landmark paper he wrote about the thyroid gland while working at Guy's Hospital.
[1] King has been called "the father of endocrinology" because of an important paper he wrote about the thyroid gland, where he proposed the concept of internal secretion of hormones into the bloodstream.
[2] The paper was published in the Guy's Hospital Reports in 1836, and fell into obscurity until it was discussed by Sir Humphry Rolleston at the Fitzpatrick Lecture in 1933.
He also proposed that the levels of thyroid secretions would vary during the day since the gland was subjected to periodic compression during chewing and movement of the nearby oesophagus, larynx and neck muscles.
[4] King was one of the original Fellows of the Royal College of Surgeons of England upon its establishment in December 1843.