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History · 12
- 8 May 1980
The world declares smallpox eradicated
On 8 May 1980, the World Health Assembly declared that smallpox had been wiped out worldwide. The disease had killed hundreds of millions of people over the centuries. A global vaccination campaign led by the World Health Organization tracked down the last cases. Smallpox remains the only human disease ever eradicated.
- 3 December 1967
Christiaan Barnard performs the first human heart transplant
On 3 December 1967, at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, the surgeon Christiaan Barnard and his team transplanted a human heart for the first time. The patient, 53-year-old Louis Washkansky, lived for 18 days before dying of pneumonia. Today, thousands of heart transplants are performed every year.
- 12 April 1955
The Salk polio vaccine is declared safe and effective
On 12 April 1955, scientists announced that Jonas Salk's polio vaccine was safe and effective, after a trial involving about 1.8 million children in the United States. Polio had paralysed tens of thousands of children every year. Vaccination began at once. With Albert Sabin's oral vaccine and a global campaign, wild polio now survives in only two countries.
- September 1928
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
In September 1928, the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming noticed that mould growing on a laboratory dish had killed the bacteria around it. He named the substance penicillin. In the 1940s, Howard Florey and Ernst Chain turned it into a medicine, the first widely used antibiotic, saving millions of lives.
- 1920–1929
The 1920s: insulin, penicillin and the first television
The 1920s brought insulin to treat diabetes and, in 1928, the discovery of penicillin. John Logie Baird demonstrated television, Charles Lindbergh flew alone across the Atlantic, and films learned to talk. King Abdulaziz's realm grew into the Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd. The decade ended with the Wall Street Crash.
- 8 November 1895
Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X-rays
On 8 November 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen discovered a new kind of invisible ray that could pass through the human body and show the bones inside. He called them X-rays. Within months, doctors were using them, and in 1901 Röntgen received the first Nobel Prize in Physics.
- 6 July 1885
Pasteur's rabies vaccine saves a boy's life
On 6 July 1885, the French scientist Louis Pasteur began treating nine-year-old Joseph Meister, who had been badly bitten by a rabid dog, with an experimental vaccine. The boy survived, though rabies was almost always fatal. The success made Pasteur world-famous and led to the founding of the Pasteur Institute in Paris in 1887.
- 16 October 1846
Ether anaesthesia is shown in public for the first time
On 16 October 1846, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the dentist William Morton gave a patient ether before the surgeon John Collins Warren removed a tumour from his neck. The patient felt no pain. The public demonstration spread anaesthesia around the world within months and made modern surgery possible.
- 1840–1849
The 1840s: stamps, anaesthesia and the first computer program
The world's first postage stamp, the Penny Black, appeared in 1840. Ada Lovelace published what is often called the first computer program, and surgeons began using anaesthesia. Astronomers found Neptune by mathematics, while famine struck Ireland and gold drew thousands to California.
- 1816
Laennec invents the stethoscope
In 1816, the French doctor René Laennec rolled a sheet of paper into a tube to listen to a patient's heart, and heard it far more clearly. He built a wooden version and called it the stethoscope. His study of chest sounds helped doctors diagnose heart and lung diseases, and the stethoscope became the symbol of medicine.
- 14 May 1796
Edward Jenner tests the first vaccine
On 14 May 1796, the English doctor Edward Jenner infected a boy with mild cowpox and later showed he was protected from smallpox. It was the first vaccine. Vaccination spread worldwide, and in 1980 smallpox, which had killed hundreds of millions of people, became the first human disease ever eradicated.
- 1790–1799
The 1790s: the first vaccine and the metric system
In 1796, Edward Jenner tested the first vaccine, against smallpox, a breakthrough that would save hundreds of millions of lives. France introduced the metric system, now used almost everywhere. Eli Whitney's cotton gin transformed farming, and French soldiers in Egypt found the Rosetta Stone, the key to reading hieroglyphs.
On this day · 14
- 8 May 1980
Smallpox is declared eradicated
On 8 May 1980, the World Health Assembly declared that smallpox had been wiped out worldwide, after a global vaccination campaign. The disease had killed hundreds of millions of people over the centuries. It remains the only human disease ever eradicated.
- 3 December 1967
The first human heart transplant
On 3 December 1967, the surgeon Christiaan Barnard and his team at Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town performed the first human-to-human heart transplant. The patient, Louis Washkansky, lived for 18 days. Advances in medicine since then mean heart transplant patients now often live for decades.
- 26 March 1953
Jonas Salk announces a polio vaccine
On 26 March 1953, the American scientist Jonas Salk announced on radio that he had successfully tested a vaccine against polio, a disease that paralysed thousands of children every year. After a huge trial, it was approved in 1955. Salk did not patent it. Polio is now close to being wiped out.
- 7 April 1948
The World Health Organization is founded
On 7 April 1948, the World Health Organization came into being as an agency of the United Nations, to improve health worldwide. It led the campaign that wiped out smallpox in 1980. The date is marked every year as World Health Day.
- 28 September 1928
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
On 28 September 1928, the Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming noticed that a mould growing on a dish in his London laboratory had killed the bacteria around it. It produced penicillin, the first antibiotic. Mass-produced in the 1940s, it has saved millions of lives.
- 11 January 1922
Insulin is first given to a patient
On 11 January 1922, in Toronto, 14-year-old Leonard Thompson became the first person with diabetes to receive an insulin injection. After the extract was purified, his health improved dramatically. Insulin turned diabetes from a fatal disease into a manageable one, and Frederick Banting and John Macleod won the 1923 Nobel Prize.
- 27 July 1921
Banting and Best isolate insulin
On 27 July 1921, at the University of Toronto, Frederick Banting and his student Charles Best isolated insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar. Within months, it saved the life of a boy with diabetes. Banting shared the Nobel Prize and sold the patent for one dollar so it could help everyone.
- 8 November 1895
Wilhelm Röntgen discovers X-rays
On 8 November 1895, the German physicist Wilhelm Röntgen noticed a glowing screen in his laboratory and discovered a new kind of invisible ray that could pass through the human body. He called them X-rays. Within months, doctors were using them to see broken bones.
- 22 December 1895
The first X-ray image of a human hand
On 22 December 1895, Wilhelm Röntgen made an X-ray image of his wife Anna Bertha's hand, clearly showing her bones and wedding ring. It was the first X-ray of a human body part, and it amazed the world when Röntgen published his discovery days later.
- 6 July 1885
Louis Pasteur saves a boy with a rabies vaccine
On 6 July 1885, the French scientist Louis Pasteur began treating nine-year-old Joseph Meister, who had been bitten by a rabid dog, with an experimental vaccine. The boy survived. Rabies had been almost always fatal. The success made Pasteur famous and led to the Pasteur Institute.
- 24 March 1882
Robert Koch announces the cause of tuberculosis
On 24 March 1882, the German doctor Robert Koch announced in Berlin that he had found the bacterium that causes tuberculosis, then a leading cause of death. His discovery led to better diagnosis and, decades later, cures. The date is marked every year as World Tuberculosis Day.
- 16 October 1846
Ether anaesthesia is shown in public
On 16 October 1846, at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, the dentist William Morton gave a patient ether before a surgeon removed a tumour from his neck. The patient felt no pain. Anaesthesia spread worldwide within months. The date is World Anaesthesia Day.
- 12 May 1820
Florence Nightingale is born
On 12 May 1820, Florence Nightingale was born in Florence, Italy. She cut deaths in military hospitals by insisting on cleanliness, and founded the first professional school of nursing in London in 1860. Her birthday is celebrated as International Nurses Day.
- 14 May 1796
Edward Jenner gives the first vaccination
On 14 May 1796, the English doctor Edward Jenner inoculated eight-year-old James Phipps with material from a cowpox sore. When later exposed to smallpox, the boy did not fall ill. Jenner's discovery was the first vaccine, and led eventually to the eradication of smallpox.