Penicillin

History of Medicine

By Lance Merrell
  • Microscope Invented

    Microscope Invented

    Dutch lens grinder Zacharius Jannssen invents the microscope.

  • Microscope is refined

    Anton van Leeuwenhoek refines the microscope and fashions nearly 500 models. Discovers blood cells and observes animal and plant tissues and microorganisms.

  • Stethoscope Invented

    René Laënnec invents the stethoscope.

  • First Successful Transfusion of Blood

    British obstetrician James Blundell performs the first successful transfusion of human blood.

  • First Woman to Recieve Medical Degree

    Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman to receive a medical degree (from Geneva Medical College in Geneva, New York).

  • FIrst Vaccine for rabies

    First vaccine for rabies

  • Insulin first used to treat diabetes.

    Insulin first used to treat diabetes.

  • First Blood Bank Established

    Bernard Fantus starts the first blood bank at Cook County Hospital in Chicago, using a 2% solution of sodium citrate to preserve the blood. Refrigerated blood lasts ten days.

  • Dolly the Sheep Cloned

    Dolly the sheep becomes the first mammal cloned from an adult cell (dies in 2003).

  • Smallpox is identified

    Persian physician Rhazes is the first to identify smallpox, as distinguished from measles, and to suggest blood as the cause of infectious disease.