History of Medicine

Medicine continues to be “trial and error”. Devices needed to be developed and experiments needed to be done. We needed the microscope to see germs and that got us going in the right direction in the 1500s. The Chemists provided the answers. The Physicists provided the tools.

The invention of penicillin in 1928 and the development of antibiotics in the 1940s was the game changer. It ended the untreatable plagues and wound infections. It cures infections, inflammation and deadly inflammatory diseases.

500 BC Egyptian Imhotep describes the diagnosis and treatment of 200 diseases

460 BC Hippocrates develops a form of aspirin.

300 BC Diocles writes the first anatomy book

280 BC Herophilus studies the nervous system.

910 AD Rhazes identifies smallpox.

1249 AD Bacon invented spectacles

1489 Leonardo da Vinci dissects corpses and produces an extremely accurate anatomy illustrations.

1590 Jannssen invents the microscope.

1628 Harvey studies heart and blood vessels of animals.

1656 Wren experiments with canine blood transfusions.

1670 van Leeuwenhoek discovers blood cells.

1683 van Leeuwenhoek observes bacteria.

1747 Lind prescribes citrus to prevent scurvy.

1763 Aymand performs appendectomy.

1800 Davy uses nitrous oxide as anesthetic.

1816 Laennec invents stethoscope.

1818 Blundell performs blood transfusion.

1842 Long uses ether as anesthetic.

1853 Pravaz and Wood develop syringe.

1857 Pasteur identifies germs cause disease.

1867 Lister develops antiseptic surgical methods.

1895 Roentgen discovers X rays.

1901 Landsteiner classifies blood into groups.

1903 White pioneers electrocardiograph.

1921 Mellanby prescribes vitamin D for rickets.

1922 Insulin used to treat diabetes.

1928 Fleming discovers penicillin

1942 Dussik uses ultrasound.

1943 Waksman introduces antibiotic streptomycin.

1945 Influenza vaccine

1950 Hopps introduces cardiac pacemaker.

1953 Watson and Crick introduce DNA.

1955 Salk introduces polio vaccine

1967 Barnard performs heart transplant.

1975 Ledley introduces CAT-Scans.

1977 Pneumonia vaccine introduced.

1978 Meningitis vaccine introduced.

1983 HIV discovered to cause AIDS.

1985 Kolff introduces artificial kidney dialysis machine.

1992 Hepatitis A vaccine introduced.

http://www.datesandevents.org/events-timelines/10-history-of-medicine-timeline.htm

Medicine had a “dead spot” from 10,000 BC to 1500 AD. Wars and plagues took their toll. After 1500, Medicine did a slow crawl until 1940. After that we got 80 years of lethal cancer treatments.

Norb Leahy, Dunwoody GA Tea Party Leader