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Jan 1, 1200
Pulmonary circulation discovered
The discovery of Pulmonary Circulation by Ibn al-Nafis, a phycian and author. The pulmonary circulation escribed how the blood flows to and from the lungs. -
Jan 1, 1553
Michael Servetus
Michael Servetus was a physician who desccribed that with the lungs, the blood flows from one side of the heart to the other. This refuted Galen's theory. -
Jan 1, 1555
DE FABRICA
Andreas Vesalius criticizes Galen on human anatomy in his second edition called DE FABRICA. -
Vein valves
Fabricius , an anatomist, features the first drawings of vein valves in his published work on the valves in veins. -
Red blood cell description
Jan Swammerdam is thought to be the first person to observe and describe red blood cells. -
observation of capillary system
Marcello Malpighi used a rudimentary microscope to observe the capillary system. This is the network of vessels that connect the arteries and the veins. -
blood transfusion with lambs blood
Jean-Baptiste Denis transfuses a teenage boy with nine ounces of lamb's blood. He attaches the lamb's carotid artery to a vein in the boy's forearm. The patient does not suffer any negative consequences. -
Ban on transfusions involving humans
Dr. Denis sues Antoine Mauroy's widow in 1668 for slandering his reputation. The case causes the French Parliament to ban all transfusions involving humans. England and Rome do the same. -
discription of red blood cells
Anton van Leeuwenhoek provided a more detailed/accurate description of red blood cells. He approximates their size to be 25,000 times smaller than a fine grain of sand. -
EXPERIMENTAL ENQUIRY INTO THE PROPERTIES OF THE BLOOD by William Hewson
William Hewson reveals his research on blood coagulation in his book EXPERIMENTAL ENQUIRY INTO THE PROPERTIES OF THE BLOOD. this includied his success at arresting clotting and isolating a substance from plasma he called "coagulable lymph." The substance is now known as fibrogen, a key protein in the clotting process. -
First Human-to-human blood transfussion
notes in a medical journal gives credit to Philip Syng Physick for performing the first human-to-human blood transfusion. His work is not published. -
First RECORDED human-to-human blood transfussion
James Blundell performs the first recorded human-to-human blood transfusion. He injects a patient suffering from internal bleeding with 12 to 14 ounces of blood from several donors. The patient dies after initially showing improvement. -
Discovery of platelets
Sir William Osler observes that small fragments from the bone marrow make up clots formed in blood vessels; these fragments are called platelets. -
Blood groups A, B, and C discovered
Karl Landsteiner publishes a paper explaining his discovery of the three main human blood groups -- A, B, and C, which he later changes to O. Red cells agglutinate when serum from one group, he calls "A," is mixed with the red cells of a second group, "B." Similarly, group "B" serum causes the red cells of group "A" to agglutinate, but the red cells of a third group, "C," never clump when mixed with the serum of group "A" or "B". -
group AB added to the blood groups
Dr. Landsteiner's colleagues Alfred von Decastello and Adriano Sturli identify AB a fourth blood group that causes agglutination in the cells of both groups "A" and "B." -
First transfusion using cross matching
Dr. Reuben Ottenberg performs the first transfusion using cross matching, He successfully uses the procedure in 128 cases, virtually eliminating transfusion reactions. -
Storing blood
Dr. Richard Weil determines that citrated blood can be refrigerated and stored for a few days and then successfully transfused. -
First blood depot
Dr. Oswald Robertson collects and stores type O blood, with citrate-glucose solution, in advance of the arrival of casualties during World War I. He establishes the first blood depot. -
First blood donor service
Percy Lane Oliver begins operating a blood donor service where he recruits volunteers who agree to give blood as the need arises. All volunteers are screened for disease, tested for blood type, and their names are entered into a phone log, so they can be quickly contacted when blood is required. -
Blood-Transfusion service in Barcelona
Federico Duran-Jorda establishes the Barcelona Blood-Transfusion Service. The service collects blood, tests it, pools it by blood group, preserves and stores it in bottles under refrigeration. -
Discovery of blood group RH and anti-RH
Drs. Karl Landsteiner and Alexander Wiener discover the Rh blood group, through experiments with the red blood cells of monkeys. They identify the antibody found by Levine and Steston to be anti-Rh. -
Red Cross organizes a civilian blood donor service
The American Red Cross agrees to organize a civilian blood donor service to collect blood plasma for the war effort. -
first blood donor center opens
The first center opens in New York and the Red Cross collects over 13 million units of blood over the course of the war. -
American Association of Blood Banks
Independent, community blood banks join together to form a national network of blood banks called the American Association of Blood Banks. This is an alternative for Red Cross. -
Blood storge, from glass bottles to plastic bags
Dr. Carl W. Walter develops a plastic bag for the collection of blood. Before, glass bottles were used to store blood, but their fragility and susceptibility to contamination made him want to create something stronger and more portable. -
Structure of hemoglobin unraveled
Through the use of X-ray crystallography, Dr. Max Perutz is able to unravel the structure of hemoglobin, the protein within red blood cells that carries oxygen. -
High deposits of cryo discovered
Dr. Judith Pool discovers that slowly thawed frozen plasma yields deposits high in Antihemophilic Factor. The deposits called cryoprecipitates (or cryo) are found to have much greater clotting power than plasma and given to hemophiliacs to stop bleeding episodes. -
Testing for hepatitis B
Dr. Baruch Blumberg identifies a substance on the surface of the hepatitis B virus that triggers the production of antibodies. His work leads to the development of a test to detect the presence of hepatitis B antibodies. -
The responsibility of blood regulation transfered
The responsibility of regulating the blood banking industry from the Division of Biologics Standards (DBS) to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). -
AIDS
The first cases of a syndrome initially called GRID (Gay-related Immunodeficiency Disease), due to its prevalence among gay men, are reported. It is later renamed AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). -
Theory of AIDS being blood borne presented
When hemophiliacs also begin to develop GRID, Dr. Bruce Evatt begins to suspect that the syndrome may be blood borne and presents his theories at a meeting of a group of the U.S. Public Health Service. -
Claim made about the cause of AIDS
Dr. Robert Gallo announces that he's identified the virus that causes AIDS. He calls it HTLV III (human T-cell lymphotropic virus). -
Fighting for credit of the discovery of AIDS
U.S. and French governments agree to share credit for the discovery of AIDS and profit from the sales of test kits for the virus. -
First blood screening tests
The first blood-screening test to detect the presence or absence of HIV antibodies -- the ELISA test -
Multiple tests are discovered to test for evidence of hepatitis
A series of more sensitive tests are developed and used to screen donated blood for infectious diseases: two tests that screen for indirect evidence of hepatitis and Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (NAT) that directly detects the genetic material of viruses like HCV and HIV.
