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Timeline of medicine and medical technology
Timeline
of
medicine
and
medical technology
420 BC
-
Hippocrates
begins the scientific study of medicine by maintaining that diseases have natural causes and puts forth the
Hippocratic Oath
, marking the birth of modern medicine
280 BC
-
Herophilus
studies the
nervous system
and distinguishes between sensory nerves and motor nerves
250 BC
-
Erasistratus[?]
studies the
brain
and distinguishes between the
cerebrum[?]
and
cerebellum
50
-
70
-
Pedanius Dioscorides
writes
De Materia Medica
- a precursor of modern pharmacopeias that was in use for almost 1600 years
180
-
Galen
studies the connection between
paralysis
and severance of the
spinal cord
1242
-
Ibn an-Nafis[?]
suggests that the right and left
ventricles[?]
of the
heart
are separate and describes the lesser circulation of
blood
1249
-
Roger Bacon
writes about
convex
lens
spectacles
for treating
long-sightedness[?]
1403
-
Venice
implements a
quarantine
against the
Black Death
1451
-
Nicholas of Cusa[?]
invents
concave
lens spectacles to treat
myopia
early
16th century
:
Paracelsus
, an
alchemist
by trade, rejects
occultism
and pioneers the use of chemicals and minerals in medicine
1543
-
Andreas Vesalius
publishes De Fabrica Corporis Humani which corrects Greek medical errors and revolutionizes medicine
1546
-
Girolamo Fracastoro
proposes that epidemic diseases are caused by transferable seedlike entities
1553
-
Miguel Serveto[?]
describes the lesser circulation of blood through the
lungs
1559
-
Realdo Colombo[?]
describes the lesser circulation of blood through the lungs in detail
1603
-
Girolamo Fabrici[?]
studies leg
veins
and notices that they have
valves
which only allow blood to flow toward the heart
1628
-
William Harvey
explains the vein-
artery
system and structure of the heart in De Motu Cordis et Sanguinis
1701
-
Giacomo Pylarini[?]
gives the first
smallpox
inoculations
1747
-
James Lind
discovers that
citrus
fruits
prevent
scurvy
1763
-
Claudius Aymand[?]
performs the first successful
appendectomy
1790s
-
Samuel Hahnemann
rages against the prevalent practice of
bloodletting
as a universal cure and founds
homeopathy
1796
-
Edward Jenner
develops a smallpox
vaccination
method
1800
-
Humphry Davy
announces the
anaesthetic
properties of
nitrous oxide
1816
-
Rene Laennec[?]
invents the
stethoscope
1842
-
Crawford Long[?]
performs the first surgical operation using anasthesia
1847
-
Ignaz Semmelweis
studies and prevents the transmission of
puerperal fever[?]
1870
-
Louis Pasteur
and
Robert Koch
establish the
germ theory of disease
1881
- Louis Pasteur develops an
anthrax
vaccine
1882
- Louis Pasteur develops a
rabies
vaccine
1890
-
Emil von Behring
discovers
antitoxins[?]
and uses them to develop
tetanus
and
diptheria[?]
vaccines
1906
-
Frederick Hopkins[?]
suggests the existence of
vitamins
and suggests that a lack of vitamins causes
scurvy
and
rickets
1907
-
Paul Ehrlich
develops a chemotherapeutic cure for
sleeping sickness
1921
-
Edward Mellanby[?]
discovers
vitamin D
and shows that its absence causes
rickets
1928
-
Alexander Fleming
discovers
penicillin
1932
-
Gerhard Domagk[?]
develops a chemotherapeutic cure for
streptococcus
1952
-
Jonas Salk
develops the first
polio
vaccine
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