WHO’S WHO?
■ Hippocrates (c. 460–c. 377 BCE)
becomes the founding father of modern
medicine. Hippocrates suggests that
disease has natural causes rather than
being a punishment from the gods.
■ William Harvey (1578–1657) studies
the circulatory system and shows how the
heart pumps blood around the body.
■ Elizabeth Blackwell (1821–1910)
becomes the first woman to graduate with
a medical degree from Geneva College in
New York in 1849.
■ Dr. Crawford Long (1815–1878) uses
ether as an anesthetic during surgery.
■ Sir Alexander Fleming (1881–1955)
discovers penicillin. In 1940, Howard
Walter Florey (1898–1968) and Ernst
Chain (1906–1979) mass-produce
penicillin as an antibiotic.
■ John Heysham Gibbon Jr. (1903–
1973) invents the first heart-lung machine
in 1935. He performs the first open-heart
surgery on a human in 1953.
■ Christiaan Barnard (1922–2001) a
South African surgeon, performs the first
successful heart transplant in 1967.The first practical
transistorized
pacemaker was
made by Earl
Bakken.For the first time,
surgeons use a robotic
assistant called PUMA
560 to help take a tissue
sample from the brain.Surgeons from
Chicago perform the
first successful organ
transplant—the
kidney of a woman
named Ruth Tucker.Scientists clone the first
mammal—Dolly the Sheep
(died 2003).Doctors make
huge strides
in stem cell
research.BODY REBUILDING
When the body cannot repair itself, doctors
use technology to rebuild it. Advances
include miniature retinal implants that
can restore sight and prosthetic limbs
under direct control of the brain.u SPRINT CHAMP
South African Oscar
Pistorius is a sprinting
champion with spring-
loaded legs.TAKE A LOOK: STEM CELLS
It is now possible to grow new tissues and
organs from stem cells rather than wait for
transplants. Stem cells are primitive cells that
can divide and produce any type of cell in
the body. The body will not reject tissues and
organs grown from stem cells because they
come from the patient’s own body.. MIND
CONTROL
Former US marine
Claudia Mitchell uses
her brain to move her
prosthetic arm.
u SKIN FROM STEM CELLS
The stem cells are used to generate new
skin for use in transplant surgery., STEM CELL
Doctors use stem cells
taken from the body.u EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS
In the laboratory, scientists isolate the
stem cells from a developing embryo.TECHNOLOGY1950 CE 1957 CE 1985 CE 1996 CE 2007 CE
MODERN MEDICINE257