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Medical History Timeline

  • Gunpowder Invented
    Oct 6, 1040

    Gunpowder Invented

    The Chinese invented gunpowder as early as the 9th century, but the first found written formula for it was discovered in 1040. Gunpowder lead to gunshot wounds which gave way to new medical treatments.
  • Printing Press Invented
    Oct 6, 1440

    Printing Press Invented

    Invented by Johannes Gutenberg, the printing process was now perfected which made for an easy, fast, and efficient way to print many copies of a document at ones. Made books possible and more knowledge was shared.
  • Leonardo da Vinci
    Oct 5, 1452

    Leonardo da Vinci

    Born in 1452, Leonardo da Vinci was a world famous artist who also ended up dissecting dead people and drawing out the way the body looked on the inside. This lead to better understanding of the way the human body works.
  • William Harvey
    Apr 1, 1578

    William Harvey

    Born in 1578 and died in 1657described the circulation of blood to and from the heart during his lifetime.
  • Anton Von Leeuwenhoek

    Anton Von Leeuwenhoek

    Known as the father of microbiology, he invented the microscope. He is also famous for his research on single celled organisms.
  • Gabriel Farenheit

    Gabriel Farenheit

    He was a physicist, engineer, and glass blower who ended up inventing the mercury thermometer and naming it after himself.
  • Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin

    Most known for discovering electricity, Benjamin Franklin also created the "bi-focal" in 1784.
  • Edward Jenner

    Edward Jenner

    In 1796 he developed a vaccine for smallpox by experimenting with cow pox.
  • Chemical Batteries Invented

    Chemical Batteries Invented

    Alessandro Volta developed the chemical battery in 1800 which is still around today, used in many small technological devices, especially in the medical field.
  • Rene Laennec

    Rene Laennec

    He invented the stethoscope in 1816 which led to better diagnosis of heart problems.
  • Florence Nightingale

    Florence Nightingale

    Born in 1820, Florence Nightingale is known as the founder of modern nursing. She established a nursing school in 1860.
  • Robert Kock

    Robert Kock

    Born in 1843, Robert Koch developed the culture plate metiod to identify pathogens in his lifetime. He's also well known for isolating the tuberculosis bacteria.
  • Elizabeth Blackwell

    Elizabeth Blackwell

    She became the first woman to qualify as a doctor in the U.S. and she also was the one who inspired Nightingale to go into nursing which led to the care of many mentally ill patients.
  • Gregory Mendel

    Gregory Mendel

    First experimented heredity by observing pea plants and went on to discover and establish the patterns of heredity.
  • Sigmund Freud

    Sigmund Freud

    He studied the effects of the unconscious mind on the body. He helped to develop the practice of psychology and psychiatry because he was determined the mind and body work together.
  • Louis Pasteur

    Louis Pasteur

    Louis Pasteur developed the process of pasteurizing which elimnated the dangerous disease-causing bacterias in milk which led to safer drinking.
  • Plastic Invented

    Plastic Invented

    The first plastic was invented by Alexander Parkes in 1862 when he presented it in London. Plastic is now used in many different types of medical equipment and/or supplies; ie: prescription bottles, breathing tubes, hospital beds.
  • Dorthea Dix

    Dorthea Dix

    Most known for work in the battlefield as an Army nurse. She also is famous for working with mentally ill patients.
  • Clara Barton

    Clara Barton

    Clara Barton founded the American Red Cross in 1881 which aids people in donations of blood, food, and money.
  • Joseph Lister

    Joseph Lister

    He was an English surgeon who was the developer of antiseptic surgery and was one of the first people to believe in sterilizing medical equipment, preventing the spread of serious diseases and bacterias.
  • Antitoxins Invented

    Antitoxins Invented

    Emil Von Behring discovers the antitoxins and works with them and uses them to aid in his development of different vaccines for diptheria and tetanus.
  • William Roentgen

    William Roentgen

    William Roentgen discovered X-Rays in 1895.
  • Marie Curie Isolates Radium

    Marie Curie Isolates Radium

    Also known as the "mother of modern physics" Marie Curie discovered how to isolate radium in 1910.
  • First Successful Helicopter

    First Successful Helicopter

    The helicopter was invented in 1784 by French inventers, but was perfected by Igor Sikorsky and in 1910, the helicopter had its first successful flight. This eventually lead to air lifts to hospitals with more advanced care.
  • Gas Mask Invented

    Gas Mask Invented

    James Bert Garner invented the modernized gas mask back in 1915 when he was told about the tear gas droppings in Britain during World War 1.
  • Alexander Fleming

    Alexander Fleming

    In 1928, Alexander Fleming discovered and developed Penicillin, the most popular and widely used antibiotic.
  • Electronical Computers Developed

    Electronical Computers Developed

    This was when the world's first electronical computers were developed and actually worked. This is an important social event because today in the medical field, patient's critical health information can be stored on these computers and found with ease.
  • Albert Sabin

    Albert Sabin

    Created an oral version of the polio vaccine and was proven more efficient than Salk's injectional vaccine.
  • Jonas Salk

    Jonas Salk

    Polio was considered the most frightening disease at the time and Salk was able to come up with a vaccine to prevent this dreadful ailment in 1952.
  • Christian Barnard

    Christian Barnard

    Performed the world's first successful human to human heart transplant.
  • First Test Tube Baby

    First Test Tube Baby

    Louise Joy Brown was the first ever successful test tube baby through invitro fertilization and was born in Great Britain.
  • Cell Phones Become Popular

    Cell Phones Become Popular

    Cell phones were already invented in Japan in the 70's, but they didn't become worldwide until 1983. The cell phone is an important social event that deals with the medical field because these days in an emergency people call 911 with their cell phones, making the rescue much faster than if one had to run to a standard land line before calling for help.
  • Gene Therapy

    Gene Therapy

    Diseases are treated by the insertion of genes into cells and tissues of a person, in hopes of beating the hereditary diseases.
  • First Mammal Cloned

    First Mammal Cloned

    "Dolly" the sheep was the first mammal to successfully be cloned. She was "born" in 1996 and lived until 2003.
  • Bush Votes Against Stem Cell Research

    Bush Votes Against Stem Cell Research

    Bush believed that stem cell research crossed a "moral boundary" and used his veto power to vote against the bill allowing the research in the United States.