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Discovery of anesthesia
A dentist William T.G. Morton administered the first successful general anesthetic to a patient -
First contact lenses
Adolf Fick created a glass contact lens to correct vision -
Development of aspirin
Felix Hoffman created this drug to cure his father's rheumatism, but it ultimately turned into a universal pain reliever -
Blood type classification
Karl Landsteiner introduces A, AB, B, and O blood type system -
First vaccine for tuberculosis
Albert Calmette and Camille Guerin developed the Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccine against tuberculosis and is still in use today -
Discovery of penicillin
Discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928, this helped increase survival rate of infections and not require amputations -
First flu vaccine
Influenza vaccine developed to treat soldiers of World War II -
Discovery of DNA
Discovered by James Watson and Francis Crick in 1953. Discovery led to being able to study human genetics and origins of diseases -
Approval of birth control
Approved by FDA in 1960, allows unwanted pregnancy to be prevented and thus help families who do not want a child or are not prepared for one. -
CAT scan development
Godfrey Hounsfield invented the CAT scan in 1975, making x-rays quicker and easier to assess situations
