Medical Inventions and Discoveries
| Invention | Who invented it? | When was it invented? |
|---|---|---|
| Adhesive plaster-covered bandages | Paul Beiersdorf | 1882 |
| Anaesthetic | William Morton | 1846 |
| Anthrax (vaccine) | Louis Pasteur | 1881 |
| Antiseptic | Joseph Lister | 1865 |
| Artificial heart (implant, human) | Denton Cooley | 1969 |
| Artificial limbs | Ambrose Pare | 1575 (book: Works) |
| Artificial skin | Dr John F. Burke & Ioannis V. Yanna | 1979 |
| Aspirin | Felix Hoffman & Heinrich Dreser | 1899 |
| Bacteria | Anton van Leeuwenhoek | 1673 |
| Bifocal lenses | Benjamin Franklin | 1784 |
| Birth control pill | Gregory Pincus, John Rock, Min- Chueh Chang | 1960 (approved by U.S. Federal Drug Agency) |
| Blood circulation | William Harvey | 1610 |
| Blood transfusion | Dr Thomas Blundell | 1818 |
| Chemotherapy | Paul Ehrlich | 1911 |
| Cholera (vaccine) | Louis Pasteur | 1880 |
| Contact lens (glass) | Adolf Fick | 1887 |
| Corneal transplants | Eduard Zirm | 1906 |
| Cough drops | James Smith & Sons | 1847 |
| Dental drill | George Fellows Harrington | 1864 |
| Disposable syringe | Colin Murdoch (NZ) | 1956 (patent) |
| DNA (structure) | Francis Crick, James Watson, Rosalind Franklin | 1953 |
| Electrocardiograph | Willem Einthoven | 1902 |
| Genetics | Johann Gregor Mendel | 1866 |
| Heart transplants | Christiaan Barnard | 1967 |
| Hypodermic syringe | Charles Gabriel Pravaz Alexander Wood (simultaneously) | 1853 |
| Insulin | Frederick Banting & Charles Best | 1921 |
| Iron lung | Philip Drinker | 1929 |
| Morphine | Friedrich Wilhelm Adam Serturner | 1805 |
| Ophthalmoscope | Hermann Ludwig von Helmholtz | 1851 |
| Oral contraceptive pill | Gregory Pincus, John Rock, Min- Chueh Chang | 1960 (approved by U.S. Federal Drug Agency) |
| Pacemaker (artificial, implantable) | Wilson Greatbatch | 1960 (first implant) |
| Pasteurisation | Louis Pasteur | 1864 |
| Pathology | Giovanni Battista Morgagni | 1761 |
| Penicillin | Alexander Fleming | 1928 |
| Plastic surgery | Archibald Hector McIndoe | 1940s |
| Polio (vaccine) | Jonas Salk | 1955 (field trial results announced) |
| Quinine | Pierre Joseph Pelletier & Joseph Bienaime Caventou | 1820 |
| Rabies (vaccine) | Louis Pasteur | 1885 |
| Rubella (vaccine) | Paul D Parkman & Harry M Meyer Jr | 1966 |
| Scurvy | James Lind | 1753 |
| Smallpox (vaccine) | Edward Jenner | 1796 (first experiments) |
| Stethoscope | Rene Theophile Hyacinthe Laennec | 1816 |
| Thermometer (medical) | Thomas Allbutt | 1867 |
| Tranquiliser dart gun | Colin Murdoch (NZ) | 1950s |
| Tourniquet | Etienne J. Morel | 1674 |
| X-rays | Wilhelm Roentgen | 1895 |