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Period: 4000 BCE to 3000 BCE
Early Beginnings
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3900 BCE
Disease caused by
Evil spirits -
3600 BCE
Treatments for sick
Tribal doctors performed ceremonies to exorcise evil spirits. -
3100 BCE
Medicines used today
Today we use digitalis in the form of a pill to treat heart conditions. Quinine is used to control fevers and relieve muscle spasms. Belladonna and atropine are used to
relieve muscle spasms. Morphine is used to treat severe pain. -
Period: 2999 BCE to 399
Medicine in Ancient Times
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2900 BCE
Ancient Egyptians
They were the earliest people to keep accurate health records. They called upon the gods to help heal them. They drained blood to help heal them as well. The priests acted as physicians. -
1900 BCE
Ancient Chinese
They were the first to use acupuncture therapies. They learned to treat some illnesses with stone tools. Their methods developed into advanced practice of Chinese acupuncture that people still use today. -
900 BCE
Ancient Greeks
They were the first to study the causes of disease and determine it could be nature and not spirits. The father of medicine named Hippocrates based his knowledge on the external body. He kept careful notes and found out disease was not caused by supernatural forces. Religious custom didn’t allow the bodies to be dissected. -
100
Ancient Romans
They were the first to organize health care. Roman physicians kept a room in their houses for the ill, which was the beginning of hospitals. The Romans wore death masks which they believed kept them from infection and bad odor. -
Period: 400 to 800
The Dark Age
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500
Why did they stop the study of medicine?
The Roman Empire was conquered by the Huns and hey believed that life and death were in the hands of God. The Monks and Priests also had no interest in how the body functioned. -
700
How did they treat disease?
The primary treatment was prayer. -
Period: 800 to 1400
The Middle Ages
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1100
Epidemics
Terrible epidemics caused millions of people to die. The Bubonic plague( the Black Death) caused 60 million people to die. Others smaller uncontrolled diseases were also reasons for many more of these deaths. Some of these include smallpox , syphilis, diphtheria, and tuberculosis. -
Period: 1350 to
The Renaissance
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1450
Rebirth?
Universities and medical schools for research were built. They were allowed to dissect the body for study. Printing press and the publishing of books were developed so people could have greater knowledge from research. -
Period: 1501 to
The 16th and 17th Centuries
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1515
Leonardo da Vinci
He studied and recorded the anatomy of the body. -
1550
Gabriele Fallopius
He discovered the fallopian tubes. -
1563
Bartolommeo Eustachio
He discovered the tube leading from the ear to the throat( Eustachian Tube). -
William Harvey
He used his knowledge to understand physiology and was able to describe the circulation of blood. -
Antonie van Leeuwenhoek
He created a microscope and found the bacteria for tooth decay. -
Apothecaries
They were early pharmacies. -
Period: to
The 18th century
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Benjamin Franklin
He discovered bifocals and found that colors can be spread. -
Medical students learning
Students attended lectures and also observed patients at the bedside. When a patient died they dissected the body which led to better understanding and causes of illness and death. -
Joseph Priestley
He discovered the element of oxygen. He also observed that plants refresh air that has lost is oxygen, making it useable for respiration. -
Edward Jenner
He discovered a method of vaccination for smallpox. His discovery saved millions of lives. -
René Laënnec
René invented the stethoscope. -
Period: to
The 19th and 20th Century
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Ignaz Semmelweis
He identified the cause of childbed fever. -
Florence Nightingale
She became famous for her dedication to nursing during the Crimean war. She devoted much of her life to preparing reports on the need for better sanitation, construction, and management of hospitals. She designed a hospital that improved the environment and patient care. -
Louis Pasteur
He discovered that microorganisms were everywhere. He also discovered that they cause disease. He created a vaccine for rabies as well. -
Dmitri Ivanovski
He discovered that some diseases are caused by microorganisms that cannot be seen with a microscope. They are called viruses. -
Joseph Lister
He learned about microorganisms that cause infection from Pasteur. He was the first doctor to use an antiseptic during surgery with led to less infections in the incision. -
Ernst Von Bergmann
He developed a method to keep an area germ-free before and during surgery. This was the beginning of asepsis. -
Robert Koch
He developed the culture plate method to identify pathogens and isolate bacterium that causes tuberculosis. He introduced the importance of cleanliness to prevent disease. -
Paul Ehrlich
He discovered the effect of medicine on disease causing microorganisms. His treatment was effective against some microorganisms but not in killing other bacteria. On the 606th experiment he found a cure for syphilis. -
Wilhelm Roentgen
He discovered X-rays. -
Anesthesia
Before anesthesia they used herbs and alcohol to help the pain but even then some patients died from the pain and shock from surgery. They eventually found nitrous oxide and chloroform to put patients to sleep and relieve pain. -
Sir Alexander Fleming
He found Penicillin that killed life threatening bacteria. -
Sigmund Freud
He discovered the conscious and unconscious parts of the mind. He determined that the mind and body work together. -
Gerhard Domagk
Gerhard discovered sulfonamide compounds. They were the first effective medications in killing bacteria. -
Jonas Salk
He discovered that a dead polio virus would cause immunity to poliomyelitis. -
Albert Sabin
Albert used a live polio virus vaccine that is used today to immunize babies against disease. -
Francis Crick and James Watson
They discovered the molecular structure of DNA. The model they made shows how DNA replicates and how hereditary information is coded on it. -
Christian Barnard
He performed the first successful heart transplant. -
Ben Carson
He continues to pioneer in separating Siamese twins and performs surgeries on the brain to stop seizures. -
Period: to
The Twenty-First century
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Human Genome Project
The Human Genome Project released a rough draft of the human genome. It was the first time in history that people could read a complete set of human genetic information. -
Virtual Reality
VR is used to help medical students learn more about the anatomy of the body. They can also practice procedures in the VR. -
HIV Treatments
Two new medications were released drastically improving treatment options for patients. The new drugs made it possible for every patient with HIV to be on an effective single-dose therapy, helping reduce the number of HIV patients. -
3D Printing Body Parts
Researchers have successfully printed and implanted bionic eyes, hearts, skin, biotic ears, elastic bones, ovaries, and antibacterial teeth. -
Advances in Genetic Engineering
CRISPR is used to edit living organisms genes and was used to effectively to treat glioblastoma and metastatic ovarian cancer.