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Zacharius Janssen invents the microscope
A Dutch lens maker and his father started experimenting with lenses, putting them in a tube, stacked on each other. The two made an important discovery that the object near the end of the tube appeared larger than it really was, much larger than a magnifying glass made it appear. This was the first compound microscope.
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William Harvey publishes "An Atomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and of the Blood in Animals"
The book published by Harvey explained how blood was pumped from the heart throughout the body, then returned to the heart and recirculated.
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Anton van Leeuwenhoek refines the microscope
A Dutch lens grinder created single lens microscopes which were more superior than the Janssen compound microscope; Van Leeuwenhoek grinded lenses about a millimeter in diameter that could still magnify several hundred times.
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Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the alcohol thermometer
Fahrenheit, a German scientist, is credited with the invention of the alcohol thermometer, though he was not the one to first invent it. The scientist was a skilled glassblower and was most likely given credit due to the fact that he produced the world's first reliable thermometer.
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Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit invents the mercury thermometer
Fahrenheit's mercury thermometer consists of a capillary tube which, after being filled with mercury, is heated to expand the mercury and expel the air from the tube. The tube is then sealed, leaving the mercury free to expand and contract with temperature changes.
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James Lind discovers citrus fruits prevent scurvy
While it had already been known that lime juice was beneficial to scurvy, Lind experimented with 12 men on his ship--all of which who had scurvy--by changing their diets. The men given oranges and lemons made remarkable recoveries, while the men given other food items did not.
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Edward Jenner creates the smallpox vaccine
Jenner heard tales that dairymaids who suffered through couwpox would not get smallpox, so, on May 14th, he found a young dairymaid with fresh cowpox lesions; using the matter from the girl's lesions, Jenner innoculated an 8-year-old boy. -
Rene Laennec invents the stethoscope
Unable to feel a patient's heartbeat through his hand, or by pressing his ear to the chest due to the patient's "great degree of fatness," Laennec created the stethoscope. The first stethoscope was a hollow wooden tube, one end would be pressed to the patient's chest, the other end pressed against the doctor's ear.
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James Blundell performs the first successful human blood transfusion
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Elizabeth Blackwell is first woman to receive a medical degree
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Joseph Lister publishes "Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery"
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Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch establish the germ theory of disease
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First vaccine for cholera
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First vaccine for anthrax
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Clara Barton founds the American Red Cross
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First vaccine for rabies
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Emil von Behring discovers and makes use of antitoxins
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Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen discovers X-rays
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First vaccine for typhoid fever
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Ronald Ross demonstrates that malaria parasites are transmitted via mosquitoes
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First vaccine for plague
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Felix Hoffman develops aspirin
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Marie Curie isolated radium
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Insulin first used to treat diabetes
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First vaccine for diptheria
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First vaccine for pertussis
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First vaccine for tuberculosis
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First vaccine for tetanus
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Alexander Flemming discovers penicillin
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First vaccine for yellow fever
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First vaccine for typhus
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Bernard Fantus starts the first blood bank
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Selman A. Waksman discovers streptomycin
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First vaccine for influenza
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Paul Zoll develops the first cardiac pacemaker
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Jonas Salk develops the first polio vaccine
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James Watson and Francis Crick describe the structure of the DNA molecule
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Dr, Joseph E. Murray performs the first kidney transplant
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First oral polio vaccine
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First vaccine for measles
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First vaccine for mumps
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Dr. Christiaan Bernard performs the first human heart transplant
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First vaccine for rubella
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First vaccine for chicken pox
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First vaccine for pneumonia
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First test-tube baby is born
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First vaccine for meningitis
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WHO announces smallpox is eradicated
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First vaccine for hepatitis B
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HIV is identified
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First vaccine for hepatitis A
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Dolly the sheep is first mammal cloned
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First vaccine for lyme disease
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Scientists find new ways to create stem cells
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Rhazes discovers smallpox
In 1910, Rhazes provided the first medical description of smallpox--rash, progressing to pus-filled blisters, able to result in disfiguration, blindness, and death--and described that it transmitted from person to person.
*No month and/or day recorded
