The journey of medicine

c. 1600 BCE Medical method

Egyptian medical papyri

The Edwin Smith papyrus presents cases of injury and surgery in a systematic order: examination, then diagnosis, then treatment — one of the earliest examples of written clinical reasoning.¹

5th century BCE Medical method

Hippocrates and Greek medicine

Greek medicine moved away from supernatural explanation towards observation and logical reasoning, and the name of Hippocrates is associated with this shift and with the professional oath.²

10th century Diagnosis & imaging

Al-Razi and clinical observation

Abu Bakr al-Razi distinguished smallpox from measles in a separate treatise, relying on careful observation of patients, and ran hospitals in Rayy and Baghdad.³⁴

Around 1025 Medical method

Ibn Sina and "The Canon of Medicine"

Ibn Sina gathered the knowledge of his age into an organised encyclopedia that became a principal reference in medical teaching in the Islamic world and Europe for centuries.⁵⁴

13th century Understanding the body

Ibn al-Nafis and pulmonary circulation

Ibn al-Nafis rejected Galen's idea of pores in the septum between the ventricles and stated that blood passes from the right ventricle to the left through the lungs, centuries before William Harvey.⁶⁷

1543 Understanding the body

Vesalius and the anatomy of the body

Andreas Vesalius published "On the Fabric of the Human Body", based on direct dissection of the human body, correcting errors that had been inherited for centuries.⁸

1628 Understanding the body

Harvey and the complete circulation of the blood

William Harvey demonstrated through experiment and measurement that the heart pumps blood in a closed circuit around the body.⁹

1796 Prevention

Jenner and vaccination

Edward Jenner used cowpox to protect people from smallpox, laying the foundation of vaccinology. Almost two centuries later, the global eradication of smallpox was declared in 1980.¹⁰¹¹

1846 Surgery

General anaesthesia

A public demonstration of ether during surgery in Boston changed surgery from a race against pain into a craft that could be mastered.¹²

1860–1882 Prevention

Germ theory and antisepsis

The work of Pasteur and then Koch showed that microorganisms cause specific diseases; Joseph Lister applied antisepsis in surgery, and Koch discovered the tubercle bacillus in 1882.¹³¹⁴

1895 Diagnosis & imaging

X-rays

Wilhelm Röntgen discovered X-rays, and doctors saw inside the body for the first time without surgery.¹⁵

1921 Treatment & drugs

The discovery of insulin

The isolation of insulin turned type 1 diabetes from a rapidly fatal disease into a condition people could live with.¹⁶

• InsulinMedicine
• Type 1 diabetesCondition

1928 Treatment & drugs

Penicillin and the antibiotic era

Alexander Fleming noticed that a mould killed bacteria, and Florey and Chain then made penicillin a medicine that could be produced, in the 1940s.¹⁷

1953 Genes & molecules

The structure of DNA

The description of the DNA double helix opened the way to understanding heredity at the molecular level.¹⁸

1954 Surgery

The first successful kidney transplant

The first successful kidney transplant, between identical twins, began the era of organ transplantation.¹⁹

• KidneysOrgan

The 1970s Diagnosis & imaging

CT and MRI

Computed tomography and then magnetic resonance imaging provided detailed cross-sectional images of the internal organs without surgery.²⁰²¹

• CT scan (computed tomography)Procedure
• MRI scan (magnetic resonance imaging)Procedure

The 1990s Medical method

Evidence-based medicine

An approach took shape that combines the best available research evidence with the doctor's expertise and the patient's values and preferences when making decisions.²²

2003 Genes & molecules

Completion of the Human Genome Project

The reading of the human genome was completed, and genes became a reference for understanding inherited diseases and developing targeted treatments.²³

2012 Genes & molecules

Gene editing with CRISPR

The CRISPR-Cas9 tool was developed to edit DNA precisely, and in 2023 the FDA approved the first CRISPR-based therapy, for sickle cell disease.²⁴²⁵

2015 Genes & molecules

Precision medicine

Major research initiatives such as the All of Us programme were launched to collect health and genetic data from one million or more participants in order to design prevention and treatment suited to the individual.²⁶²⁷

2018 Digital medicine

First autonomous AI diagnosis

The FDA granted authorisation to the IDx-DR system, which gives a screening decision for diabetic retinopathy without the doctor needing to interpret the image.²⁸

• Diabetic retinopathyCondition

Today Digital medicine

Digital medicine

Electronic records, telemedicine, wearable devices and artificial intelligence tools are changing how care is delivered, with open questions about privacy, fairness and safety.²⁹³⁰