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Period: 400 to Jan 1, 1400
Dark & Middle Ages
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Period: Jan 1, 1400 to
The Renaissance
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William Harvey publishes "An Anatomical Study of the Motion of the Heart and of the Blood in Animals"
This book describes how blood is pumped throughout the body by the heart, and then returns to the heart and recirculates. The book is very controversial but becomes the basis for modern research on the heart and blood vessels. -
US Declares Independece from Great Britain
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Bifocals invented
Benjamin Franklin invents the bifocals in 1784. -
Edward Jenner develops a method to protect people from smallpox by exposing them to the cowpox virus
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Stethoscope Invented
The stethoscope was invented by Rene Laennec in 1816. -
Elizabeth Blackwell is the first woman to receive a medical degree
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First Medical School is open- Florence Nightingale School of Nursing and Midwifery
Florence Nightingale opens her first school of nursing and midwifery. -
Period: to
Civil War
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Joseph Lister was determined to find a connection between cleanliness and infections in an operating room
Lister was convinced of the need for cleanliness in the operating room, a revolutionary idea at the time. He develops antiseptic surgical methods, using carbolic acid to clean wounds and surgical instruments. The immediate success of his methods leads to general adoption. In one hospital that adopts his methods, deaths from infection decrease from nearly 60% to just 4%. -
Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch establish the germ theory of disease
According to germ theory, a specific disease is caused by a specific organism. Before this discovery, most doctors believe diseases are caused by spontaneous generation. In fact, doctors would perform autopsies on people who died of infectious diseases and then care for living patients without washing their hands, not realizing that they were therefore transmitting the disease. -
The First Red Cross is Established
The first American Red Cross is established on May 21, 1881. The Red Cross is established by Clara Barton. -
Discovered x-rays
Discovered by Wilhelm Roentgen. The x-ray allowed doctors to see inside the body to discover what was wrong with the patient. -
Period: to
WW1
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Period: to
Influenza epidemic of 1918
The influenza flu infected over 500 million world wide. It was a very deadly epidemic. -
First vaccine for pertussis (whooping cough)
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First vaccine for tuberculosis
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Sir Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
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First vaccine for typhus
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Period: to
WW2
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First Vaccine for Influenza
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Jonas Salk develops the first polio
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Dr. Christiaan Barnard performs the first human heart transplant
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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
Her name was Louise Brown and she was the first test-tube baby born. -
Rhazes is the first to identify smallpox
