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100
Discovery of Blood 2500 BCE
The Egyptians use bleeding to help their patients. A hyroglyphic in Memphis, Egypt,shows a patient being drained from the foot and neck. -
105
Empedocles 500 BCE
Empedocles, a Greek philosopher, believes that the organ of the heart and all matter is comprised of four "roots" (or elements) -- earth, fire, air, and water. -
110
Hippocrates Theories 400 BCE
Hippocrates, the physician of antiquity, theorizes that similar to the four elements, the body is made up of four ingedients -- blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile -- and their imbalance causes disease. -
130
Galen Discovers Blood Formation 130-200 AD
Galen becomes one of the most important physicians in history. Dissecting and experimenting on animals, he proves that arteries contain blood, but also suggests that the system of arteries and veins are completely distinct, and blood forms in the liver and travels through the veins to all parts of the body and passes between the ventricles through pores in the septum. -
377
Hippocrates 460-377 BC
Hippocrates teaches the humoral theory, a hypothetical system to explain illness in which balance equals health. Excess or deficien- cy equals illness. -
Feb 18, 1250
Eminent Cairo mid- 1200s
Eminent Cairo physician and author Ibn al-Nafis discovers and describes pulmonary circulation -- the flow of blood to and from the lungs. -
Apr 20, 1553
Blood Flow
Michael Servetus suggests that blood flows from one side of the heart to the other through the lungs instead of through the wall between the ventricles, which refutes Galen's theory. -
On The Valves of The Veins
Fabricius, the anatomist from Padua, publishes his work ON THE VALVES IN VEINS, featuring the first drawings of vein valves. -
William Harvey Discovery
William Harvey introduces the controversial concept of circula- tion -
William Harvey
British physician William Harvey explains that blood circulates within the body and is pumped by the heart. Harvey experiments on animals and even on the surface veins of arms of living subjects. -
Red Blood Cells
Jan Swammerdam is thought to be the first person to observe and describe red blood cells. -
Arteries and Veins
Marcello Malpighi observes the capillary system which is the network of fine vessels that connect the arteries and the veins -
First Transfusion
Jean-Baptiste Denis transfuses a teenage boy suffering from a persistent fever with nine ounces of lamb's blood. He attaches the lamb's carotid artery to a vein in the boy's forearm. -
Size of Red Blood Cells
Anton van Leeuwenhoek provides a more precise description of red blood cells, rouding their size to about "25,000 times smaller than a fine grain of sand." -
Plasma Discovery
William Hewson details his research on blood coagulation, including his success at arresting clotting and isolating a substance from plasma he dubs "coagulable lymph." The substance is now more commonly known as fibrogen, a key protein in the clotting process. -
Human to Human Transfusion (Not Recorded)
Philip Syng Physick with performing the first human-to-human blood transfusion. -
First Recorded Human to Human Transfusion
James Blundell performs the first recorded human-to-human blood transfusion. -
Alexandre Donne
Identifies platelets. -
Platelets
Sir William Osler observes that small cell fragments from the bone marrow make up the bulk of clots formed in blood vessels; these cell fragments will come to be called platelets. -
Blood Type
Karl Landsteiner dicovers A, B, and C, which he later changes to O. He charts the regular pattern of reaction that occurs when he mingles the serum and red cells of an initial set of six blood specimens. -
AB Blood Type
Alfred von Decastello and Adriano Sturli identify a fourth blood group -- AB -- that causes agglutination in the red cells of both groups "A" and "B." -
Prevention of Blood Clots
Albert Hustin of Brussels and Luis Agote of Buenos Aires discover that adding sodium citrate to blood will prevent it from clotting. -
Pediatric Hemotology
Pediatrics is the first comprehensive American publication on pediatric hematology. -
Thomas Cooley
Thomas Cooley describes a Mediterranean hematologic syndrome of anemia, erythroblastosis, skeletal disorders, and splenomegaly that is later called Cooley’s anemia and now thalassemia. -
Alfred P. Hart
Alfred P. Hart performs the first exchange transfusion. -
The first true “blood bank”
Chicago’s Cook County Hospital establishes the first true “blood bank” in the United States. -
Anemia
Dr. Louis Diamond along with Dr. Kenneth Blackfan describes the anemia still known as Diamond-Blackfan anemia. -
Hemophilia
The blood product cryoprecipitate is developed to treat bleeds in people with hemophilia. -
Butterfly Needle
The “butterfly” needle and intercath are developed, making IV access easier and safer. -
Hemorrhage in Cancer
The role of platelet concentrates in reducing mortality from hem- orrhage in cancer patients is recognized. -
Antihemophilic
The first antihemophilic factor concentrate to treat coagulation disorders in hemophilia patients is developed through fractiona- tion. -
Hepatitis B
Hepatitis B surface antigen testing of blood begins in the United States. -
Apheresis
Apheresis is used to extract one cellular component, returning the rest of the blood to the donor. -
HIV is identified
HIV is identified, but the virus has already decimated the hemo- philiac population. -
Testing for HIV in bloodstream
Blood can be tested for HIV, and heat-treated factor becomes available, making it safe to treat hemophiliac patients again without fear of patients contracting AIDS
