Timeline of medicine and medical technology

Timeline of medicine and medical technology

Antiquity

* c. 2600s BC - Imhotep wrote texts on ancient Egyptian medicine describing diagnosis and treatment of 200 diseases in 3rd dynasty Egypt.
* c. 2596 BC¹ - The legendary date of composition of "Huangdi Neijing" ("Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine"), which lays the framework for the basic theories of traditional Chinese medicine
* c. 1500 BC¹ - Saffron used as a medicine on the Aegean island of Thera in ancient Greece
* c. 500 BC¹ - Sushruta wrote Sushruta Samhita describing over 120 surgical instruments, 300 surgical procedures, classified human surgery in 8 categories and described cosmetic surgery in the Ayurvedic text "Sushruta Samhita"
* c. 500 BC - Bian Que becomes the earliest physician known to use acupuncture and pulse diagnosis.
* 420 BC - Hippocrates of Cos maintains that diseases have natural causes and puts forth the Hippocratic Oath, marking the birth of medicine in the west.
* 300 BC - Charaka writes the Ayurvedic text "Charaka Samhita" which uses a rational approach to the causes and cure of disease and uses objective methods of clinical examination.
* 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
* 220 - Zhang Zhongjing publishes Shang Han Lun (On Cold Disease Damage), the oldest complete medical textbook in the world, focusing on diagnosis, treatment and prognosis.
* 215-282 - Life of Huangfu Mi, who wrote the Zhenjiu Jiayijing (The ABC Compendium of Acupuncture), the first textbook focusing solely on acupuncture.

Middle Ages

* c. 610-800 - Muhammad discussed the contagious nature of leprosy, mange and sexually transmitted disease. [Lawrence I. Conrad and Dominik Wujastyk (2000), "Contagion: Perspectives from Pre-Modern Societies", "A Ninth-Century Muslim Scholar's Discussion". Ashgate, ISBN 0754602583.]
* 750 - Madhav writes the Ayurvedic text Nidana where he lists diseases along with their causes, symptoms, and complications.
* c. 800-873 - Al-Kindi (Alkindus) introduces quantification into medicine with his "De Gradibus"
* c. 830-870 - Hunayn ibn Ishaq translates Galen's works into Arabic

* c. 838-870 - Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari, a pioneer of pediatrics and the field of child development, writes the first encyclopedia of medicine. [Amber Haque (2004), "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists", "Journal of Religion and Health" 43 (4): 357-377 [361] ]

* c. 865-925 - Rhazes pioneers pediatrics,David W. Tschanz, PhD (2003), "Arab Roots of European Medicine", "Heart Views" 4 (2).] and makes the first clear distinction between smallpox and measles in his "al-Hawi". He also writes the "Doubts about Galen", where he refutes Galen's theory of humorism using an experiment.

* 1000 - Abulcasis establishes surgery as a profession of in his "Kitab al-Tasrif", which remains a standard textbook in Muslim and European universities until the 16th century. The book first introduced the plaster, [Zafarul-Islam Khan, [http://milligazette.com/Archives/15-1-2000/Art5.htm At The Threshhold Of A New Millennium – II] , "The Milli Gazette".] inhalant anesthesia, and many surgical instruments, including the first instruments unique to women,Bashar Saad, Hassan Azaizeh, Omar Said (October 2005). "Tradition and Perspectives of Arab Herbal Medicine: A Review", "Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine" 2 (4), p. 475-479 [476] . Oxford University Press.] as well as the surgical uses of catgut and forceps, the ligature, surgical needle, scalpel, curette, retractor, surgical spoon, sound, surgical hook, surgical rod, specula, [Khaled al-Hadidi (1978), "The Role of Muslim Scholars in Oto-rhino-Laryngology", "The Egyptian Journal of O.R.L." 4 (1), p. 1-15. (cf. [http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=674 Ear, Nose and Throat Medical Practice in Muslim Heritage] , Foundation for Science Technology and Civilization.)] and bone saw.Paul Vallely, [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20060311/ai_n16147544 How Islamic Inventors Changed the World] , "The Independent", 11 March 2006.]

* 1021 - Alhazen completes his "Book of Optics", which made important advances in ophthalmology and eye surgery, as it correctly explained the process of visual perception for the first time.

* c. 1030 - Avicenna writes "The Book of Healing" and "The Canon of Medicine", in which he establishes experimental medicine and evidence-based medicine. The "Canon" remains a standard textbook in Muslim and European universities until the 18th century. The book's contributions to medicine includes the introduction of clinical trials, systematic experimentation and quantification in medicine and physiology, [Katharine Park (March 1990). "Avicenna in Renaissance Italy: The Canon and Medical Teaching in Italian Universities after 1500" by Nancy G. Siraisi", "The Journal of Modern History" 62 (1), p. 169-170.] the discovery of contagious diseases, the distinction of mediastinitis from pleurisy, the contagious nature of phthisis, the distribution of diseases by water and soil, and the first careful descriptions of skin troubles, sexually transmitted diseases, perversions, and nervous ailments,citation|first=George|last=Sarton|author-link=George Sarton|title=Introduction to the History of Science|year=1927-31|url=http://www.cyberistan.org/islamic/Introl1.html#sarton2|accessdate=2008-01-25] as well the use of ice to treat fevers, and the separation of medicine from pharmacology, which was important to the development of the pharmaceutical sciences.

* 1100-1161 - Avenzoar invents the surgical procedure of tracheotomy in al-Andalus. [A. I. Makki. "Needles & Pins", "AlShindagah" 68, January-February 2006.] He is also the first physician known to have carried out human dissections and postmortem autopsy, and proves that the skin disease scabies is caused by a parasite, which contradicted the erroneous theory of humorism. [ [http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Islamic+medicine Islamic medicine] , "Hutchinson Encyclopedia".] He was also the first to provide a real scientific etiology for the inflammatory diseases of the ear, and the first to clearly discuss the causes of stridor. [Prof. Dr. Mostafa Shehata, "The Ear, Nose and Throat in Islamic Medicine", "Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine", 2003 (1): 2-5 [4] .] Modern anesthesia was also developed in al-Andalus by the Muslim anesthesiologists Ibn Zuhr and Abulcasis. They were the first to utilize oral as well as inhalant anesthetics, and they performed hundreds of surgeries under inhalant anesthesia with the use of narcotic-soaked sponges which were placed over the face.Dr. Kasem Ajram (1992). "Miracle of Islamic Science", Appendix B. Knowledge House Publishers. ISBN 0911119434.]

* 1242 - Ibn an-Nafis suggests that the right and left ventricles of the heart are separate and discovers the pulmonary circulation (the cycle involving the ventricles of the heart and the lungs) and coronary circulation, [Husain F. Nagamia (2003), "Ibn al-Nafīs: A Biographical Sketch of the Discoverer of Pulmonary and Coronary Circulation", "Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine" 1, p. 22–28.] for which he is considered the pioneer of circulation theory [Chairman's Reflections (2004), "Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting", "Heart Views" 5 (2), p. 74-85 [80] .] and one of the greatest physiologists. [George Sarton (cf. Dr. Paul Ghalioungui (1982), "The West denies Ibn Al Nafis's contribution to the discovery of the circulation", "Symposium on Ibn al-Nafis", Second International Conference on Islamic Medicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait)
(cf. [http://www.islamset.com/isc/nafis/drpaul.html The West denies Ibn Al Nafis's contribution to the discovery of the circulation] , "Encyclopedia of Islamic World")] He emphasized the rigours of verification by measurement, observation and experiment, and was an early proponent of experimental medicine, postmortem autopsy, and human dissection. [Ingrid Hehmeyer and Aliya Khan (2007), "Islam's forgotten contributions to medical science", "Canadian Medical Association Journal" 176 (10), p. 1467-1468 [1467] .] He also discredited many other erroneous Avicennian and Galenic doctrines on the four humours, pulse bones, muscles, intestines, sensory organs, bilious canals, esophagus, stomach, and the anatomy of other parts of the human body. [Dr. Sulaiman Oataya (1982), "Ibn ul Nafis has dissected the human body", "Symposium on Ibn al-Nafis", Second International Conference on Islamic Medicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait (cf. [http://www.islamset.com/isc/nafis/index.html Ibn ul-Nafis has Dissected the Human Body] , "Encyclopedia of Islamic World").] Ibn al-Nafis also drew diagrams to illustrate different body parts in his new physiological system. [Dr Ibrahim Shaikh (2001), [http://muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=209 Who Discovered Pulmonary Circulation, Ibn Al-Nafis or Harvey?] , FSTC.]

* c. 1248 - Ibn al-Baitar wrote on botany and pharmacy, studied animal anatomy and medicine, and was a pioneer of veterinary medicine.

* 1249 - Roger Bacon writes about convex lens spectacles for treating long-sightedness

* 1300s - When the Black Death bubonic plague reached al-Andalus, Ibn Khatima hypothesized that infectious diseases are caused by microorganisms which enter the human body.Ibrahim B. Syed PhD, "Islamic Medicine: 1000 years ahead of its times", "Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine", 2002 (2): 2-9.]

* 1313-1374 - Ibn Khatima wrote a treatise called "On the Plague", in which he establishes the existence of contagion through "experience, investigation, the evidence of the senses and trustworthy reports." He also discovers that "transmission is affected through garments, vessels and earrings."

* 1403 - 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

1500 - 1800

* 1543 - Andreas Vesalius publishes De Fabrica Corporis Humani which corrects Greek medical errors and revolutionizes European medicine
* 1546 - Girolamo Fracastoro proposes that epidemic diseases are caused by transferable seedlike entities
* 1553 - Spanish physician Miguel Serveto describes the circulation of blood through the lungs and is accused of heresy by Catholics and Protestants alike; burned at the stake for heresy the same year at age 44
* 1556 - Amato Lusitano describes venous valves in the Ázigos vein
* 1559 - Realdo Colombo describes the circulation of blood through the lungs in detail
* 1563 - Garcia de Orta founds tropical medicine with his treatise on Indian diseases and treatments
* 1596 - Li Shizhen publishes Běncǎo Gāngmù or Compendium of Materia Medica, containing 1,892 distinct herbs and other materia medica. There are some 11,096 side prescriptions to treat common illness.
* 1603 - Girolamo Fabrici studies leg veins and notices that they have valves which allow blood to flow only toward the heart
* 1628 - William Harvey explains that the vein-artery system is a continuous loop and that the heart works like a pump to push blood in a one-way circuit through the body, in "Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis et Sanguinis in Animalibus"
* 1701 - Giacomo Pylarini gives the first smallpox innoculations in Europe. They were widely practised in the east before then.
* 1747 - James Lind discovers that citrus fruits prevent scurvy
* 1763 - Claudius Aymand performs the first successful appendectomy
* 1785 - William Withering publishes "An Account of the Foxglove" the first systematic description of digitalis in treating dropsy
* 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 - Present

* 1800 - Humphry Davy announces the anaesthetic properties of nitrous oxide
* 1816 - Rene Laennec invents the stethoscope
* 1818 - British obstetrician James Blundell performs the first successful human blood transfusion.
* 1842 - Crawford Long performs the first surgical operation using anaesthesia with ether
* 1847 - Ignaz Semmelweis discovers how to prevent puerperal fever, childbed fever, a blood infection passed to women during childbirth by their doctors. The fever killed one-third of mothers in some hospitals of the time.
* 1849 - Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman to gain a medical degree
* 1867 - Lister publishes "Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery", based partly on Pasteur's work.
* 1870 - Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch establish the germ theory of disease
* 1879 - first vaccine for cholera
* 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 diphtheria vaccines
* 1895 - Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovers medical use of X-rays in medical imaging
* 1901 - Karl Landsteiner discovers the existence of different human blood types
* 1901 - Alois Alzheimer identifies the first case of what becomes known as Alzheimer's disease
* 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
* 1908 - Victor Horsley and R. Clarke invents the stereotactic method
* 1917 - Julius Wagner-Jauregg discovers the malarial fever shock therapy for general paresis of the insane
* 1921 - Edward Mellanby discovers vitamin D and shows that its absence causes rickets
* 1921 - Frederick Banting and Charles Best discover insulin - important for the treatment of diabetes
* 1923 - First vaccine for Diphtheria
* 1926 - First vaccine for Pertussis
* 1927 - First vaccine for Tuberculosis
* 1927 - First vaccine for Tetanus
* 1928 - Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
* 1929 - Hans Berger discovers human electroencephalography
* 1932 - Gerhard Domagk develops a chemotherapeutic cure for streptococcus
* 1933 - Manfred Sakel discovers insulin shock therapy
* 1935 - Ladislas J. Meduna discovers metrazol shock therapy
* 1935 - First vaccine for Yellow Fever
* 1936 - Egas Moniz discovers prefrontal lobotomy for treating mental diseases
* 1938 - Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini discover electroconvulsive therapy
* 1949 - First implant of intraocular lens, by Sir Harold Ridley
* 1952 - Jonas Salk develops the first polio vaccine
* 1957 - William Grey Walter invents the brain EEG topography (toposcope)
* 1960 - Invention of Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
* 1962 - First Oral Polio Vaccine
* 1964 - First vaccine for Measles
* 1965 - Frank Pantridge installs the first portable defibrillator
* 1967 - First vaccine for Mumps
* 1970 - First vaccine for Rubella
* 1981 - First vaccine for Hepatitis B
* 1987 - Ben Carson, leading a 70-member medical team in Germany, was the first to separate occipital craniopagus twins.
*1999 - Great Ormand Street Hospital discovers XLP (X-linked lymphoproliferative syndrome) and finds how to find it in children / adults.

* 2003 - Carlo Urbani, of Doctors without Borders alerted the World Health Organization to the threat of the SARS virus, triggering the most effective response to an epidemic in history. Urbani succumbs to the disease himself in less than a month.

*2005 - David Hartley in the UK sets up the XLP Research Trust to find a genetic cure for XLP instead of a Bone Marrow Transplant.

External links

* [http://www.abpischools.org.uk/res/coResourceImport/resources04/history/timeline.cfm Interactive timeline of medicine and medical technology] (requires Flash plugin)

Footnote

1. The dates given for these medical works are uncertain. [http://www.atributetohinduism.com/Hindu_Culture2.htm A Tribute to Hinduism] suggests that Sushruta lived in the 5th century BC.

References

Footnote1. The dates given for these medical works are uncertain. A Tribute to Hinduism suggests that Sushruta lived in the 5th century BC.References1. ^ Lawrence I. Conrad and Dominik Wujastyk (2000), Contagion: Perspectives from Pre-Modern Societies, "A Ninth-Century Muslim Scholar's Discussion". Ashgate, ISBN 0754602583. 2. ^ Amber Haque (2004), "Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists", Journal of Religion and Health 43 (4): 357-377 [361] 3. ^ David W. Tschanz, PhD (2003), "Arab Roots of European Medicine", Heart Views 4 (2). 4. ^ Zafarul-Islam Khan, At The Threshold Of A New Millennium – II, The Milli Gazette. 5. ^ a b c Bashar Saad, Hassan Azaizeh, Omar Said (October 2005). "Tradition and Perspectives of Arab Herbal Medicine: A Review", Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2 (4), p. 475-479 [476] . Oxford University Press. 6. ^ Khaled al-Hadidi (1978), "The Role of Muslim Scholars in Oto-rhino-Laryngology", The Egyptian Journal of O.R.L. 4 (1), p. 1-15. (cf. Ear, Nose and Throat Medical Practice in Muslim Heritage, Foundation for Science Technology and Civilization.) 7. ^ Paul Vallely, How Islamic Inventors Changed the World, The Independent, 11 March 2006. 8. ^ Katharine Park (March 1990). "Avicenna in Renaissance Italy: The Canon and Medical Teaching in Italian Universities after 1500 by Nancy G. Siraisi", The Journal of Modern History 62 (1), p. 169-170. 9. ^ Sarton, George (1927-31), Introduction to the History of Science, . Retrieved on 25 January 2008 10. ^ A. I. Makki. "Needles & Pins", AlShindagah 68, January-February 2006. 11. ^ Islamic medicine, Hutchinson Encyclopedia. 12. ^ Prof. Dr. Mostafa Shehata, "The Ear, Nose and Throat in Islamic Medicine", Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine, 2003 (1): 2-5 [4] . 13. ^ Dr. Kasem Ajram (1992). Miracle of Islamic Science, Appendix B. Knowledge House Publishers. ISBN 0911119434. 14. ^ Husain F. Nagamia (2003), "Ibn al-Nafīs: A Biographical Sketch of the Discoverer of Pulmonary and Coronary Circulation", Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine 1, p. 22–28. 15. ^ Chairman's Reflections (2004), "Traditional Medicine Among Gulf Arabs, Part II: Blood-letting", Heart Views 5 (2), p. 74-85 [80] . 16. ^ George Sarton (cf. Dr. Paul Ghalioungui (1982), "The West denies Ibn Al Nafis's contribution to the discovery of the circulation", Symposium on Ibn al-Nafis, Second International Conference on Islamic Medicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait)(cf. The West denies Ibn Al Nafis's contribution to the discovery of the circulation, Encyclopedia of Islamic World) 17. ^ Ingrid Hehmeyer and Aliya Khan (2007), "Islam's forgotten contributions to medical science", Canadian Medical Association Journal 176 (10), p. 1467-1468 [1467] . 18. ^ Dr. Sulaiman Oataya (1982), "Ibn ul Nafis has dissected the human body", Symposium on Ibn al-Nafis, Second International Conference on Islamic Medicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait (cf. Ibn ul-Nafis has Dissected the Human Body, Encyclopedia of Islamic World). 19. ^ Dr Ibrahim Shaikh (2001), Who Discovered Pulmonary Circulation, Ibn Al-Nafis or Harvey?, FSTC. 20. ^ a b Ibrahim B. Syed PhD, "Islamic Medicine: 1000 years ahead of its times", Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine, 2002 (2): 2-9.