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Period: 2630 BCE to 2611 BCE
Imhotep
An Egyptian polymath, Imhotep studied medicine and is credited for being the author of the Edwin Smith Papyrus. The Edwin Smith Papyrus was a collection of diagnosis and treatments of many diseases. It included very little reference to magical or religious practices, unlike other medical texts during Ancient Times. -
Period: 460 BCE to 370 BCE
Hippocrates
He was a physician and philosopher. He created what is called the Hippocratic Oath. It basically stated that those who practiced medicine would "do no harm". Wrote many things on exam and treatment. One of his works is Corpus Hippocratic. Also first began the Theory of the Four Humors. -
Period: 335 BCE to 255
Herophilus
Deemed to be 'the father of anatomy'. Also credited to be the first to person organized dissections. And is known to be the first to perform autopsies to find causes of death. -
300 BCE
Diocles of Carystus
-wrote his first book that included a lot about diseases. He was one of Hippocrates disciples. He believed that health and diet was important in one's health. -
Period: 5 to 1400
Herbs and their powers
During the medieval times, herbs were believed to having healing power in a sense that they would yield away bad spirits and such. For example Yarrow was a herb that was "connected to the casting out of witches" thus relieving a person of all pain and unhealthiness. -
Period: 130 to 210
Galen of Pergamon
Built upon the theory of the Four Humors and the Theory of the Contraries. He was the origin of using the experimental method in medicine. He was able to learn a lot about human anatomy through dissections. And through his directions, proved that urine was formed in the kidney. -
910
Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi
A Persian polymath. He was able to distinguish measles and smallpox by close observation of the skin inflammations both diseases caused. -
1025
The Cannon of Medicine
Written by Persian polymath, Avenencia, The Canon of Medicine is a medical encyclopedia that dominated medical teachings until the 18th century. Avenencia was very influenced by Galen. -
Period: 1347 to 1350
The Black Death
The bubonic plague, otherwise known as The Black Death, killed 200 million of people in Eurasia. It was a disease caused by the bacterium Yersinia Pestis. -
Period: 1493 to 1541
Paracelsus
The commencement of using reasoning and experience in medicine. He attacked the established medicine community. Paracelsus relied on, well, reasoning and experience! He also distinguished genital syphilis and found that mercury had to be given in small doses to be able to treat it. -
Period: 1510 to
Ambroise Parè
-was a French barber surgeon. Parè was the rotyal surgeon for many kings, including Henri II. He joined the military in 1536 and wrote a book on general surgery in 1564. -
1543
De Humani Corporis Fabrica
Andreas Veralius studied anatomy and illustrated the book De Himini Corporus Fabrica. Using observations he made during his dissections, Andreas correct many misconceptions of human anatomy of his time. -
1567
Bezoar Stone Experiment
At the time period, bezoar stones were believed to have magical healing properties, specifically against poison. Ambroise Paré described an experiment that tested this. There was a chef accused of stealing fine silver cutlery, and he was to be hanged for it. But agreed to be poisoned for Paré's experiment and could go free if he was healed. When he was poisoned, the stone was used and the chef died 7 agonizing hours later. -
The Mortu Cordis
William Harvey discovers the body's general circulation. William was a British medical doctor and cardiovascular researcher. In this year, he published the book "The Motu Cordis" where he wrote about all of his discoveries. -
Prevention of Scurvy
Survey was a disease caused by lack of vitamin C, and would cause blackened gums, spots on skin and open wounds. James Lind discovered, in 1747, that simply by eating any citrus, a person can avoid getting scurvy. -
Treatise of the Scurvy
After having found that citrus prevents scurvy, James Lind released the book "Treatise of the Scurvy". From this, people became more aware of how to prevent it and deaths due to scurvy decreased. -
William Withering
-a Shropshire physician and botanist, William spent 10 ears of researching the effects of foxglove, a shrub, after hearing that a man with a "dropsy" drank a medicine extracted from foxglove. William was able to discover the correct dosage of digitalis needed to correct the contraction of a heart in the human body. He released his findings in 1785. -
Bloodletting reaches its peak.
Still pertaining to the Theory of the Four Humors, bloodletting was the practice of losing blood. Often times, leaches were used. They are a kind of worm that latch on to the skin of any kinda of animal (or human) and suck out their blood using their special teeth. It was a way of balancing out the four humors. -
The 1st Stethoscope
Rene Leannec creates the first device that allows the user to listen to a patient's heart beat. This was the start of , what is now called, the stethoscope. -
1st Successful Blood Transfusion
It was performed by James Blundell, the first few tests were done on dogs. The same method he used wouldn't be accepted until 50 years later. -
Ether Anesthesia
William T.G. Morton successfully demonstrates the use of ether anesthesia for surgery. It was used on patient Edward Gilbert Abbott at Massachusetts General Hospital. -
1st Open Heart Surgery
Dr. Daniel Hale Williams performed the first open heart surgery on September 7th in 1893. It occurred in Provident Hospital in Chicago and it was performed on James Cornish who had suffered a stab wound. -
Penicillin
The antibiotic was first discovered in 1925 by Alexander Fleming. It is used to treat many bacterial infections. -
1st Blood Bank
At Cook County Hospital in Chicago, Dr. Bernard Fantus opens the first blood bank. He used a 2% solution of Sodium Citrate to conserve the blood. It would make the blood last for 10 days, refrigerated, of course. -
Period: to
Fighting Influenza
The first vaccines for Influenza were developed, but by the US Military. They were first used in WWII for soldiers who need to keep from getting sick. -
Makeshift Heart Defibrillator
A 14 year old patient's heart suddenly stopped on Claude Beck's table.This happened at The University Hospitals of Cleveland in 1947. In desperation, Beck ordered that his research unit be brought up. It was a makeshift defibrillator that was made of two metal spoons with wooden handles, "a transformer to isolate the patient from the 110-volt ac wall supply, and a variable resistor to limit the current to a heart-safe value". -
DNA
Originally Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Wilkins studied the structure of DNA using x-ray images. After many trial and error images, Franklin finally produced an image that , after James Watson and Francis Crick obtained the image, allowed people to identify the structor of DNA to be a double helix that consisted of the four bases Adenine, Guanine, Cytosine and Thymine. -
1st Aortic Valve Replacement
A mechanical valve was used. It was performed by a surgeon with the name Harken. -
1st Heart Transplant
On December 3rd of 1967, Professor Christiaan Barnard performs the first heart transplant in Groote Schuur Hospital. Louis Washkansky, was a South African grocer suffering from severe heart disease and received the heart from Denise Davall. Unfortunately, Mr. Washkansky only lived for another 18 days. -
Dolly the Sheep
Dolly was the first mammal to have ever been cloned in 1996 from an adult cell. This occurred at Roslin Institute in Scotland. Using an udder cell and an unfertilized egg cell, scientists were able to clone a an adult sheep who died six years later due to arthritis. -
Human Chromosome Sequenced
An international team of researchers were able to sequence all of chromosome 22, which consists of 23 million letters. In the process, researchers were able to find that chromosome 22 plays some roles in a person's immune system and other things.
