Microbiology and Immunology

Historical Chronology WORLD OF MICROBIOLOGY AND IMMUNOLOGY

ca. A.D.70

Roman author and naturalist Pliny the Elder (A.D.

23–79) writes his influential Natural History, a vast

compilation combining observations of nature, sci-

entific facts, and mythology. Naturalists will use his

work as a reference book for centuries.

ca. 160 Bubonic plague (termed “barbarian boils”) sweeps

China.

ca. 166 Antonine plague in Rome (possibly smallpox or

bubonic plague) eventually kills millions throughout

the weakening Roman empire.

ca. 200 Galen, the preeminent medical authority of late

Antiquity and the Middle Ages, creates a philosophy

of medicine, anatomy, and physiology that remains

virtually unchallenged until the sixteenth and seven-

teenth centuries. Galen argues that embryological

development is epigenetic, although he disagrees

with Aristotle about which organs are formed first

and which are most important.

529 Byzantine Emperor Justinian closes the Academy in

Athens that was founded by Plato and forbids pagan

scientists and philosophers to teach. This causes an

exodus of scientists to Persia.

ca. 980 Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahravi (Abucasis) creates a sys-

tem and method of human dissection along with the

first formal specific surgical techniques.

ca. 1150

Hildegard of Bingen (1098–1179), Germanic author,

publishes The Book of Simple Medicine, a treatise on

the medicinal qualities of plants and minerals.

ca. 1267

Roger Bacon (1214–1292), English philosopher and

scientist, asserts that natural phenomena should be

studied empirically.

ca. 1275

William of Saliceto creates the first established

record of a human dissection.

1348 The beginning of a three-year epidemic caused by

Yersinia pestisthat kills almost one-third of the pop-

ulation of urban Europe. In the aftermath of the epi-

demic, measures are introduced by the Italian

government to improve public sanitation, marking

the origin of public health.

1490 Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519), Italian artist and

scientist, describes patterns of capillary action.

1492 Venereal diseases, smallpox, and influenza brought

by Columbus’s expedition (and subsequent

European explorers) to the New World. Millions of

native peoples eventually die from these diseases

because of a lack of prior exposure to stimulate

immunity. In some regions, whole villages are

wiped-out; and across broader regions, up to 95% of

the native population dies as a result of exposure to

these new pathogens.

ca. 1525

Paracelsus (1493–1541), Swiss physician and

alchemist, uses mineral substances as medicines.

Denying Galen’s authority, Paracelsus teaches that

life is a chemical process.

1542 Bubonic plague from China devastates

Constantinople before advancing to repeatedly kill

millions across Europe.

1543 Andreas Vesalius publishes his epoch-making trea-

tise The Fabric of the Human Body. Vesalius gener-

ally accepts Galenic physiological doctrines and

ideas about embryology, but corrects many of

Galen’s misconceptions regarding the human body.

Vesalius is subsequently recognized as the founder of

modern anatomy.

1546 Gerolamo Fracastoro (1478–1553) writes a treatise

on contagious diseases that identifies and names

syphilis. He presents a rudimentary concept of the

germ theory of disease.

1568 Zacharias and Hans Janssen develop the first com-

pound microscope. The innovation opens new

opportunities for the study of structural detail.

1600 Girolamo Fabrizzi (Fabricus ab Aquapendente) pub-

lishes De formato foetu(On the formation of the

fetus). The illustrations stir academic debate.

1604 German astronomer and mathematician Johannes

Kepler (1571–1630) writes a treatise on optics.

1610 Jean Beguin (1550–1620) publishes the first text-

book on chemistry.

1614 Italian physician Santorio Santorio (1561–1636)

publishes studies on metabolism.

1628 William Harvey (1578–1657), English physician,

publishes his Anatomical Treatise on the Movement

of the Heart and Blood. This scientific classic pres-

ents the first accurate description of blood circula-

tion, tracing the course of blood through the heart,

arteries, and veins.

1651 Harvey publishes On the Generation of Animals,, a

treatise on embryology in which Harvey asserts that

all living things come from eggs. He argues that

oviparous and viviparous generation are analogous,

but maintains support for the Aristotelian doctrine

that generation occurs by epigenesis.

1658 Dutch naturalist Jan Swammerdam publishes records

of observations of red blood cells.

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