Medicine Events

1552BC First Known Description of Diabetes Symptoms, Found on Egyptian Papyrus by Physician Hesy-Ra
Hesy-Ra, alt. Hesire, was an official, physician, possibly the first known in history, and scribe who lived during the Third dynasty of Egypt, served under the pharaoh Djoser, and who was...
1000BC Indian Physician, Sushruta Samhita, Describes Diabetes Symptoms and Treatments
Sushruta described diabetes (madhumeha) as a disease characterized by passage of large amount of urine, sweet in taste, hence the name “madhumeha” — honey like urine. He goes on to say th...
100 Aretaeus of Cappadocia Coins the Name, 'Diabetes', from the Greek Word for 'Siphon'
"In diabetes the thirst is greater for the fluid dries the body ... For the thirst there is need of a powerful remedy, for in kind it is the greatest of all sufferings, and when a fluid is..." —Aretaeus of Cappadocia
1025 Persian Physician, Avicenna, Gives Detailed Description of Diabetes Along with Strikingly Modern Treatment
In medieval Persia, Avicenna (980–1037) provided a detailed account on diabetes mellitus in The Canon of Medicine, "describing the abnormal appetite and the collapse of sexual functions,"...
1674 English Physician, Thomas Willis, Coins the Term 'Diabetes Mellitus' due to the Sweetness of Diabetic Urine
Thomas Willis discovered sugar in diabetic urine in 1670, and thereby differentiated between what before was classed as one disease, diabetes milletus and diabetes insipidus. It was not, ...
1683 Johann Conrad Brunner Publishes Work Linking the Pancreas and Diabetes Symptoms, but Without Establishing Link to the Disease
Brunner is remembered for his experiments and studies of the pancreas and the internal secretions associated with the organ. In 1683 he removed the pancreas from a dog and noticed that th...
1881 Jun 2 Louis Pasteur Demonstrates Anthrax Vaccine
In 1877, Louis Pasteur began his animal experiments with anthrax. After years of attempting to infect animals, he announced that he had developed a means of protecting sheep against anthr...
1885 Jul 6 Louis Pasteur Uses First Successful Rabies Vaccine
"Let me tell you the secret that has led me to my goal: My strength lies solely in my tenacity." —Louis Pasteur
1887 Jun 4 Pasteur Institute Is Founded
The international subscription launched by the French Académie des Sciences in 1887 to allow Louis Pasteur to found his institute and thus provide rabies vaccinations, pursue the study of...
1895 Sep 28 Louis Pasteur Dies
Prof. Pasteur's condition became seriously worse on the evening of Friday last. Albuminuria was observed, the heart became very weak, and painful and violent spasms became frequent. Abo...
1923 Oct 4 John James Richard Macleod and Frederick Grant Banting are Awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine for the Discovery of Insulin
Determined to investigate this possibility, Banting discussed it with various people, among whom was J.J.R. Macleod, Professor of Physiology at the University of Toronto, and Macleod gave...
1928 Sep 3 Alexander Fleming First Discovers Penicillin
For the first 2 million years or so of human history, bacterial infections—pneumonia, scarlet fever, syphilis, festering wounds—were often tantamount to a death sentence. But one London m...
1928 Sep 28 Alexander Fleming Discovers Penicillin
"When I woke up just after dawn on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic, or bacteria killer, but I guess th..." —Sir Alexander Fleming
2010 Oct 4 Robert G. Edwards Is Awarded The Nobel Prize For Medicine
The Nobel prize in physiology or medicine has been awarded this year to Robert G. Edwards, an English biologist who with a physician colleague, Dr. Patrick Steptoe, developed the in vitro...
2011 Jun 3 Jack Kevorkian Dies
For Oregon and Washington advocates pressing for a physician-assisted suicide law in the 1990s, the attention-seeking behavior of Dr. Jack Kevorkian provided a model for many doctors and ...