HISTORY

• Galen


  Ancient

  -Came up with The Theory of Opposites to expand and improve on Hippocrates' work

  -Approved by the church, as his ideas fit with the Bible

  -Relied on throughout the Middle Ages, as people were willing to accept this as fact
• Andreas Vesalius


  Renaissance

  -Challenged Galens ideas on anatomy (structure of the jaw and heart

  -Proved them wrong with human dissection

  -Ignored due to Church's disapproval and lack of cures

  -Wrote 'The Fabric of the Human Body' in 1543
• William Harvey


  Renaissance

  -Royal physician to James I and Charles I

  -Challenged Galens ideas on circulation (blood pumped round the body by the heart)

  -Ignored due to Church's disapproval and lack of cures, as blood transfusions were rarely successful due to blood loss, shock, and wrong blood types were used

  -Bloodletting continued to be performed even though Harvey proved the reasoning behind it was wrong
• Edward Jenner


  Industrial Revolution

  -Created vaccination (of smallpox through cowpox) in 1798

  -Not much trust in his ideas, as it threatened inoculation and people were worried about giving themselves a disease

  -Soon vaccination became compulsory (in 1853)
• Louis Pasteur


  Industrial Revolution

  -Discovered pasteurisation in 1861

  -Presented his germ theory which proved spontaneous generation wrong

  -Argued microbes caused decay, and some germs caused disease
• Robert Koch


  Industrial Revolution

  -Used Pasteur's theory and dyes to isolate the bacteria that causes anthrax (1876), septicaemia (1878), tuberculosis (1882), and cholera (1883)

  -Had limited impact as no cures were discovered
• Edwin Chadwick


  Industrial Revolution

  -Wrote a report on the living conditions of the poor

  -This lead to a Public Health Act (1848) which set up a central board of health, and let local councils set up their own

  -Limited impact as local councils chose not to
• John Snow


  Industrial Revolution

  -Discovered that cholera was waterborn

  -This backed up Pasteur's theory

  -Tested his theory on the broad street pump in 1854

  -Invented an inhaler to monitor chloroform levels
• Florence Nightingale


  Industrial Revolution

  -Worked in a hospital in the Crimean war

  -Championed hygine and cleanliness

  -Managed to bring the death rate down dramatically

  -Set up the Nightingale School of Nursing in 1859
• Marie Curie


  20th Century

  -Discovered radiation

  -Lead to radiotherapy and radiography
• Paul Ehrlich


  20th Century

  -Developed the first magic bullet in 1909

  -Called Salvarsan 606 and cured Syphilis
• Alexander Fleming


  20th Century

  -Discovered Penicillin, the first antibiotic in 1928

  -By chance, and did not pursue it due to lack on funds and interest
• Howard Florey and Ernst Chain

  20th Century

  -Developed Penicillin for general use

  -America and Britain started mass producing in 1943
• Aneurin Bevan


  20th Century

  -Minister for Health in 1948

  -Pushed through the NHS despite opposition
• William Beveridge


  20th Century

  -Wrote a report encouraging the implementation of the NHS
• James Simpson

  • WHEN: 1847
  • WHAT: discovered the effects of chloroform (anaesthetic)
  • IMPACT: Most effective general anaesthetic and allowed surgeons to take more time to perform a surgery (could worsen infection), but had risky side effects of heart damage.
• Karl Landsteiner

  • WHEN: 1900
  • WHAT: discovered blood groups
  • IMPACT: Led to more successful blood transfusions and discovery of sodium citrate that stopped blood clotting when being stored
• Gerard Domagk

  • WHEN: 1935
  • WHAT: -Found the second magic bullet, named Prontosil,
  • IMPACT: helped cure blood poisoning , led to creation of M&B 693 which helped cure pneumonia, later discovered to damage liver and kidneys
• James Watson and Français Crick

  • WHEN: 1953
  • WHAT: Discovered DNA
  • IMPACT: Led to discovery of other genes, which helped scientists discover genetic diseases and their causes.
• Hippocrates

  • WHEN: Ancient Greece
  • WHAT: Came up with the 4 humours theory
  • IMPACT: Was the basis of physicians treatments/diagnosis that was embedded into society as common knowledge.
• Joseph Lister

  • WHEN: 1867
  • WHAT: Used carboxylic acid as antiseptic on equipment and bandages
  • IMPACT: Death rate from infection decreased by 30%
• Thomas Sydenham

  • WHEN: 1676
  • WHAT: Believed all diseases had a specific cure and the person had no correlation to the disease, showed that scarlet fever was different to measles, and iron could treat anaemia, wrote a book called 'Medical Observations.
  • IMPACT: Led to a more scientific approach to medicine, helped by the printing press spreading his knowledge.