1. Hippocrates 460BC-370BC Galen 130AD-210AD Avicenna 980-1037AD Summary
4 Humours
Careful observation
Hippocratic Oath
Hippocratic Corpus (60+books)
Programme for Health
Belief of 4 Humours
Use of opposites
Galen's books show a good knowledge of bone structure.
He also studied the lungs, the muscles, the heart and blood and the nervous system
Has been called the Father of Modern Medicine.
Avicenna described how contagious diseases spread and necessary methods of quarantine
Significance
Encouraged observation
Professionalism in doctors still evident today
Greek doctors developed the first rational system of medicine; rational means: based on logic and common sense
Ideas approved by Christian Church and not challenged despite being wrong (jaw bone, kidneys)
Ideas lasted for over 1000 years
Roman ideas of medicine did not progress
Wrote a million-word textbook ‘Canon’ covering all aspects of medicine
Islamic doctors developed new techniques in medicine, dissection, surgery and pharmacology.
They founded the first hospitals and introduced physician training

3. William Harvey 1578-1657 1749-1823 Ambroise Pare 1510-1590
Andreas Vesalius
William Harvey
Edward Jenner
Summary
Military surgeon
Treated wounds using turpentine instead of hot oil.
Used ligatures to stop bleeding after amputations, instead of cauterisation with a hot iron.
Challenged Galen by dissecting humans instead of animals.
He said that medical students should perform dissections for themselves
Published his ideas in the ‘Fabric of the Human Body’ 1543
Developed theory of circulation of blood and that veins had valves.
Challenged Galen’s idea that the liver produced blood.
Developed first vaccine for smallpox using cowpox- he injected James Phipps with pus from cowpox sores which gave him immunity.
Published his findings in 1798
Significance
In 1575 he published his work, which suggested changes to the way surgeons treated wounds and amputations.
Changed doctors' views on surgery.
Impact on medicine limited though as only the rich could pay for treatments still.
His work was widely circulated due to the invention of printing
Challenged the ideas of Galen opening way for improvements (if slowly)
First person to challenge ideas of Christian Church.
Little impact on treating the sick. People were no healthier.
After publishing his work some patient refused to be treated by him as they no longer trusted him.
Some refused to accept his ideas as they were unable to see capillaries; it was another 60years before technology was good enough for this.
Smallpox was a major killer before Edward Jenner’s vaccination
Jenner was unable to explain why vaccination worked.
He faced much opposition to his ideas from doctors who stood to lose money.
Parliament granted him £30,000 to set up a vaccination clinic in London and later introduced compulsory vaccination of children.

5. Robert Koch 1843-1910 Paul Ehrlich 1854-1915 Summary
Louis Pasteur
Summary
Carried out a series of experiments to prove that bacteria (germs) make milk and beer go bad.
Author of ‘Germ Theory’, challenging the theory that ‘spontaneous generation’ and miasmas caused disease.
Use of new technologies, e.g. Lister’s telescope helped him make his discoveries.
Significance
Pasteur did not only influence other breakthroughs in medicine, he changed peoples understanding of the causes of disease.
His evidence helped reformers in Britain pass the 1875 Public Health Act
Inspired Lister to use antiseptics to reduce infection before and after surgery.
Robert Koch
Summary
Developed the scientific methods during the 1870s that helped scientists to identify specific bacteria
He was able to find the bacteria which caused TB and cholera,
Significance
He finally laid to rest the belief that ‘bad air’ caused disease.
He inspired many other younger researchers to build on his work.
He had developed research techniques that others could use throughout the world.
Paul Ehrlich
Summary
He reasoned that if certain dyes could stain bacteria, perhaps certain chemicals could kill them.
By 1914 he had discovered several 'magic bullets‘; these helped him identify treatments for malaria and syphilis.
Significance
He coined the word ‘chemotherapy’ for the use of chemicals in the treatment or control of diseases.
In 1908 Ehrlich received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for his research on the immune system

7. James Simpson 1847 Significance Summary
Came across anaesthetic (pain relief) properties of chloroform at a house party.
James Simpson pioneered the use of chloroform in surgery and midwifery.
Significance
Hard for an accurate dose to be given so risky at first.
Not accepted by everyone until Queen Victoria ‘blessed’ the drug.
Didn’t lower death rates as operations were now longer, which led to more blood loss and infection.
Joseph Lister
Summary
He sprayed instruments and bandages with solution of carbolic acid to kill germs.
He insisted that doctors who worked for him wash their hands in calcium chloride before and after operations
Significance
Known as the ‘Father of Antiseptic Surgery’.
Trained British surgeons.
Cut the death rate among his patients from 46 to 15 per cent
Laid foundations of move to aseptic surgery
However not accepted by all as made operating theatres unpleasant and using carbolic spray slowed operations down.

9. Edwin Chadwick 1800-1890 Dr John Snow 1813-1858 Joseph Bazalgette
Summary
Proposed improving drainage and sewers; removing refuse from streets and houses; providing clean water supplies; appointing medical officers in each area to check the reforms.
Based his work on meticulous studies of Broad Street, London
Conducted house-to-house interviews and recorded findings on a map
Connected London to a sewer network.
He saw to it that the flow of foul water from old sewers and underground rivers was intercepted, and diverted to new treatment works
Significance
His 1842 report proved that the poor live in dirty, overcrowded conditions; this causes a huge amount of illness;
The rich should be taxed to help the poor.
Report helped pass 1848 Public Health Act
He established the link between cholera and infected water as he had the pump disabled by removal of the handle.
He also worked out safe doses of anaesthetics and treated Queen Victoria
Bazalgette had a significant impact both on London's appearance and, through his design of an efficient sewage system, on the health of its inhabitants.
Many cities around the world copied his design

11. Howard Florey (1898-1968) Ernst Chain (1906-1979)
Alexander Fleming
Howard Florey ( ) Ernst Chain ( )
Summary
The first antibiotic penicillin was discovered by Alexander Fleming in 1928.
He noticed that some bacteria he had left in a petri dish had been killed by naturally occurring penicillium mould.
Proved penicillin’s potential by testing it on mice.
Florey and Chain learned how to produce penicillin on a large scale.
The penicillin drug became widely available following the US introduction into WWII during 1941
Significance
He published his ideas but took no further action.
Penicillin got nicknamed “the wonder drug” and in 1945 Fleming, Chain and Florey were awarded the Nobel Prize for medicine
Now, doctors could effectively cure infectious disease
Paved way for the era of the antibiotics, saved many lives.
Some germs now becoming resistant.

13. Seebohm Rowntree 1871-1954 William Beveridge 1879-1963 Aneurin ‘Nye’
David Lloyd George
Seebohm Rowntree
William Beveridge
Aneurin
‘Nye’
Bevan
Summary
Regarded as the founder of the British welfare state
his 1909 budget has been called the 'people's budget' since it provided social insurance
Insisted on raising taxes on the well-off to pay for old age pensions and the National Insurance Act of 1911.
Provided detailed evidence that more than a quarter of the people in York were living in poverty
Proved that poverty in the 1930s was mostly the result of unemployment rather than low wages
In 1942, produced a report about ways to fight the five ‘Giant Evils’: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor and Idleness.
Proposed a free national health service
Minister for Health in the post war (1945 – 51) Labour Government that introduced the NHS
Great public speaker
Significance
Changed public perception of welfare
Changed governments perceptions and responsibility for welfare
As a result, he increased his own workers’ wages and continued his research.
His 1941 report showed a 50 per cent reduction in poverty since 1901
Changes perceptions of poverty being self inflicted
As a consequence of his report, the National Health Service was introduced in 1948 with free medical treatment for all.
Benefits also provided 'social security‘ for all as is the case today
Inspired others to believe that Medical treatment should be available to rich and poor alike in accordance with medical need and no other criteria.

15. Dr Christiaan Barnard 1922-2001
Crick and Watson
Summary
In April 1953, they published the news of their discovery, a molecular structure of DNA based on all its known features
Their model served to explain how DNA replicates and how hereditary information is coded on it.
Significance
This set the stage for the rapid advances in molecular biology that continue to this day
Crick and Watson, together with Maurice Wilkins, won the 1962 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their discovery of the structure of DNA
Dr Christiaan Barnard
Summary
Performed first heart transplant
Used teams of surgeons and doctors sharing their expertise
New retroviral drugs used to ensure organs were not rejected by the body
Significance
Made medical history by ‘taking risks’ as he said
Laid foundations of modern day heart surgery