History of Medicine Timeline - Erin Frans

By ErinKF
  • 4000 BCE

    Primitive Times

    Primitive Times
    • Illnesses caused by demons/punishment from gods
    • Witch doctors treated with ceremonies
    • Herbs for medicine (morphine)
    • Trepanation or trephining (surgically removing part of skull)
    • Average life span 20 years
  • 3000 BCE

    Ancient Egyptians

    Ancient Egyptians
    • Physicians = Priests
    • Leeches used for medical treatment
    • Average lifespan 20-30 years
  • 1700 BCE

    Ancient Chinese

    Ancient Chinese
    • Cure the body by curing the spirit
    • Medication based on herbs
    • Began searching for medical causes of illness
    • Average life span 20-30 years
  • 1200 BCE

    Ancient Greeks

    Ancient Greeks
    • Hippocrates (father of medicine)
    • Observations leading to modern medical sciences
    • Believed illness is result of natural casues
    • massage, art therapy, herbal treatment
    • diet and exercise to help prevent disease
    • Average lifespan 25-35 years
  • 753 BCE

    Ancient Romans

    Ancient Romans
    • First to organize medical care by treating injured soldiers
    • Hospitals religious and charitable institutions in convents
    • Sewers and aqueducts to get rid of fecal matter in streets
    • Galen said the body is regulated by 4 humors
    • blood
    • phlegm
    • black bile
    • yellow bile
    • Average life span 25-35 years
  • 400

    Dark Ages

    Dark Ages
    • Save the soul, studying medicine prohibited
    • Prayer used as treatment
    • Monks and Priests provide custodial care
    • Herbs for medication
    • Average life span 20-30 years
  • 800

    Middle Ages

    Middle Ages
    • Greek and Roman medical practices
    • 1100 - must earn medical licenses
    • 1346-1353 - Bubonic plague killed 75% of Europe and Asia
    • 1220-1255 - Medical Universities established
    • Average lifespan 20-35 years
  • 1350

    Renaissance

    Renaissance
    • Science of Medicine
    • Dissections led to better understanding of anatomy and physiology
    • 1440 - printing press allowed information to be shared
    • 1543 - First anatomy book published by Andreas Vesalius
    • Average life span 30-40 years *Cause of disease still a mystery
  • 1500

    16th and 17th Centuries

    16th and 17th Centuries
    • Knowledge of human body greatly increased
    • 1500's - Ambroise Pare establish use of ligatures to stop bleeding
    • 1600's - Apothecaries made, prescribed, and sold medications
    • 1670 - Invention of microscope allowing physicians to see disease causing organisms... HUGE advancement
    • Cause of disease still not known, many deaths from infection
    • Average life span 35-45 years
  • 18th Century

    18th Century
    • 1714 - Gabriel Fahrenheit created first mercury thermometer
    • 1760 - Benjamin Franklin invented bifocals
    • 1778 - John Hunter established scientific surgical procedures and introduced tube feeding
    • 1789 - Smallpox vaccine
    • Average life span 40-50 years
  • 19th Century

    19th Century
    • Discoveries of microorganisms, anesthesia, and vaccinations lead to lots of advancement
    • 1895 - X-Ray Machine Developed
    • 1893 - First open heart surgery
    • Infraction control developed once microorganisms were associated with disease
    • 1816 - Invention of stethoscope
    • 1860 - Formal training for nurses began
    • Women became active participants on health care because the men were fighting in war and getting injured so the women were nurses
    • Average life span 40-60 years
  • 20th Century - RAPID GROWTH IN HEALTH CARE

    20th Century - RAPID GROWTH IN HEALTH CARE
    • 1901 - ABO blood groups discovered
    • Discover white blood cells protect against disease
    • New medications developed
    • 1922 - Insulin discovered and used for diabetes
    • 1928 - Antibiotics developed to fight infections (penicillin)
    • Machines!
    • 1943 - Kidney Dialysis Machine
    • 1953 - Heart Lung Machine
    • Surgical and diagnostic techniques developed to cure once fatal conditions
    • 1953 - Structure of DNA discovered and research in gene therapy begins
  • 20th Century - CONTINUED

    20th Century - CONTINUED
    • 1956 - First bone marrow transplant (initiated embryonic stem cell research)
    • 1978 - Test tube babies
    • Organ Transplants
    • 1960 - Kidney
    • 1963 - Liver
    • 1967 - Heart
    • 1982 - Artificial Heart
  • 21st Century

    21st Century
    • 2001 - First implantable artificial heart placed in a patient in Louisville, Ky. In
    • 2003 - Human Genome Project Completed (Mapped out human diseases in an effort to get a handle on genetic and autoimmune diseases)
    • 2005 - Face Transplants (not the whole face)
    • Vaccines!
    • 2006 - HPV (prevent cervical cencer)
    • 2015 - Malaria and Ebola