Great Biomedical Discoveries in History

Since the latter part of the 18th century, scientists have made some of the most revolutionary biomedical discoveries in the history of human civilization. Their work has shifted conventional wisdom and redefined the paradigm of modern science. Today many of their discoveries are commonplace and taken for granted by a society that has lived with many of them their entire lives. However, several of these discoveries represent major contributions to biomedicine and defining moments for the medical field itself.

Smallpox Vaccine

• Smallpox is a viral disease that killed millions of people in Europe in the 18th century. In Sweden and France, the disease is reported to have killed every 10th child that was born. In 1796, a British physician by the name of Edward Jenner developed a vaccine that produced antibodies against a related strain of the virus called cowpox. Since cowpox and smallpox are so similar, the human body was found to be unable to differentiate between the two, and the vaccine served to kill the smallpox virus as if it were the same. Thanks to the vaccine the virus has been completely eliminated from modern society.

X-Ray

• The X-ray was discovered completely by accident by a German physicist named Wilhelm Roentgen in 1895. Roentgen was experimenting with electron beams in a gas discharge tube when he noticed that when he put his hand in front of the electron beams, a silhouette of his bones was projected into a fluorescent screen in his lab. His discovery launched X-rays into mainstream medical use and allowed doctors to examine cavities and broken bones in a noninvasive manner.

Aspirin

• Aspirin is by far the most successful drug in history --- a trillion tablets are consumed every year. But the discovery was not made until 1897, when a Jewish chemist named Arthur Eichengrun synthesized the drug in its pure form. Aspirin replaced sodium salicylate, a foul-tasting drug similar to aspirin but with more severe symptoms. With the rise of the Nazi Party in Germany, Eichengrun was almost written out of history, his discovery attributed instead to his German student Felix Hoffmann. But later research into the biomedical landmark uncovered and dispelled this falsehood.

Penicillin

• Penicillin was one of the very first antibiotics ever used successfully in the treatment of bacterial infections. It was discovered in 1928 by Alexander Flemming after the Scottish scientist noticed bacteria failed to grow in a test culture that had been contaminated with a certain green mold called penicillium notatum. By 1941, a group of biologists had purified the substance and adapted its use for treating wounds on the battlefield in World War II. It is now used extensively throughout the medical world.

Double Helix DNA Model

• In 1953, James Watson and Francis Crick announced their discovery of the double helix model of DNA. The structure of DNA had previously eluded medical scientists, who were attempting to discover how genetic code was replicated and structured within the organelles of a cell. Watson and Crick received the Nobel Prize in Physiology for their discovery. The double helix model serves as the basis for genetics research and launched human gene research into a new era of scientific discovery.