Medical Scientists & Inventors

Please add profiles for those who have contributed to our medical knowledge or life through their discoveries or inventions.

Medical scientists conduct research with the aim of improving human health. They study the various diseases that afflict human beings, their causes, and how they can be prevented and treated. Medical and not directly medical research adds to the existing base of scientific knowledge on health and medicine through experimentation.

By studying human diseases and their underlying causes, then ways to affect to those, then procedures to diagnose or treat a a given condition is improved. New breakthroughs in the field of medicine has the potential to save thousands, or millions, of lives each year is the result of extensive medical research. Yet we should not forget the wisdom of the past.

The aim of this project is to honor those persons whose work has, one way or another, served the development of medicine, or contribute to the field of medicine, and they do not need to have a degree in medicine. Contributing to the medicine suffices. The scientists can be, physicians, but are not limited to biologists, chemists, molecular biologists, pharmacologists, physiologists, bacteriologists, biophysicists, immunologists, neuroscientists, physical chemists, virologists, biochemists, geneticists, inorganic chemists, microbiologists, organic chemists, pathologists, etc.

Chances are, the major breakthroughs in "medicine" are not medical, per se, but just common sense. It is possible, that "hygienia" is what has saved more lies in the history than anything else. And for that, we should thank the Goddess Hygieia. Hygienia also made Florence Nightingale a historic figure.

'Notables who have expanded our medical knowledge & made our life better:

• Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
• Sir Frederick Grant Banting (1891-1941) - co-discoverer of insulin & its therapeutic potential
• Paul Carl Beiersdorf (1836-1896) - Adhesive plaster covered bandages in 1882.
• James Blundell (1791-1878) - Blood transfusion (modern) in 1818
• Dr John F. Burke (1922-2011) - Inventing Artificial skin in 1979 with Ioannis Yannas; post-op infection control system. (Wikipedia - John F Burke); ([The New York Times - Dr John F Burke, Dies at 89; Created Synthetic Skin]).
• John Charnley - Artificial hip in 1972 (perfected) (Wikipedia - John Charnley (1911-1982))
• Dr Denton Arthur Cooley' (1920-2016) - Artificial heart in 1969. (Wikipedia - Denton Cooley)
• Philip Drinker (1894-1972) - Iron lung in 1929.
• Paul Ehrlich (1854-1915) - cure for syphilis & coined term chemotherapy
• Dr Willem Einthoven (1860-1927) - Electrocardiogram in 1903
• Napoleone Ferrara - Molecular biologist; Genentech Fellow in Tumor Biology & Angiogenesis; cancer research (Wikipedia - Napoleone Ferrara)
• Alexander Fleming (1881-1955) - Penicillin in 1928
• Dr Samuel Hahnemann (1755-1843) - Developed the “law of similars” into a practical medical philosophy & Created Homeopathy
• William Harvey (1578-1657) - Blood circulation (discovered) in 1628 (published)
• Frederick Hopkins (1861-1947) & contemporaries - Vitamins in 1900’s; discovered the amino acid tryptophan in 1901
• Arthur L Horwich - Biologist; Professor of Genetics & Pediatrics at Yale School of Medicine; pioneered the practice of protein folding
• Zacharias Janssen (1585-pre 1632) - telescope and/or the microscope in 1590-1618; first optical telescope (Wikipedia - Zacharias Janssen).
• Renè Laennec (1781-1826) First stethoscope in 1816
• Karl Landsteiner (1868-1943) - discovered/distinguished main blood groups in 1900.
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723) - Bacteria (discovered) in 1674.
• Joseph Lister (1827-1912) - Antiseptic in 1865.
• Sir Archibald McIndoe (1900-1960) Developed treatment for burn victims & treatment to improving wound healing
• William TG Morton (1819-1868) - Anesthetic in 1846.
• Joseph Murray (1919-2012) - Transplants from unrelated person with immunosuppressant drugs (Wikipedia - Joseph Murray)
• Louis Pasteur (1822-1895) - Germ theory; Anthrax vaccine in 1881; Cholera vaccine in 1880
• Joseph Priestley (1733-1804) - developed modern anesthesia; first to suggest a connection between blood and air. (BLTC - Joseph Priestley)
• Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen (1845-1923) - development of the x-ray
• Jonas Salk (1914-1995) - Polio vaccine in 1953.
• Friedrich Wilhellm Adam Sertürner (1783-1841) - Morphine in 1803 (Wikipedia - Friedrich Sertürner)
• Andreas Vesalius 1514-1564 - Flemish founder of human anatomy
• Ioannis Yannas (b 1935) - Inventing Artificial skin in 1979 with Dr John Burke (MIT News - Ioannis Yannas to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame; Ellines.com - The man who invented “artificial skin”)

Resources:

1. Wikipedia - Medical Researcch
2. Medline Plus - Understanding Medical Research
3. Oskar Blakstad (May 13, 2010). Medical Research History. Retrieved Apr 08, 2018
4. PMC - Evolution of Clinical Research: A History Before & Beyond James Lind. By Dr Arun Bhatt
5. Medical inventions & discoveries
6. MDDI - Top 50 Medical Device Inventors of all time
7. The New York Times - Milestones in Medical Technology
8. HealthGuidance - Top 10 Greatest Medical Discoveries of All Time
9. The Famous People - Medical Scientists
10. The Famous People - Bacteriologists
11. 20 Most Influential Medical Researchers Today (2013)
12. Biography - Medical
13. 10 People Who Have Improved Western Medicine
14. The Most Influential People in Medicine Throughout History: From the Father of Immunology to Marie Curie. By Lecia Bushak. 23 Feb 2016
15. A Brief History of Modern Medicine. by Dr Bill Thomas. Published to: Aging 101 on 15 Feb 2013