2700 BCE
Herbal materia medica
Chinese (Shennong), Indian Ayurvedic and Egyptian traditions catalogue medicinal plants. Source — Wikipedia:
Chronological Storyline (11 Milestones)
1000 CE
Variolation against smallpox
Inoculation with smallpox matter spreads from China, India, Africa and the Ottoman world. Source — Wikipedia:
1025 CE
Ibn Sina’s Canon of Medicine
Avicenna’s Canon systematises pharmacology and clinical method for centuries across Eurasia. Source — Wikipedia:
1796 CE
Jenner’s smallpox vaccine
Edward Jenner uses cowpox to immunise against smallpox, founding vaccination. Source — Wikipedia:
1846 CE
Surgical anaesthesia (ether)
Public ether anaesthesia makes painless surgery possible. Source — Wikipedia:
1867 CE
Antiseptic technique
Joseph Lister introduces antiseptic surgery, drastically cutting deadly post-operative infection. Source — Wikipedia:
1928 CE
Penicillin, the first antibiotic
Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin; Florey and Chain enable mass production. Source — Wikipedia:
1955 CE
Salk polio vaccine
Jonas Salk’s vaccine begins the rollback of paralytic polio worldwide. Source — Wikipedia:
1972 CE
Artemisinin antimalarial
Tu Youyou extracts artemisinin from sweet wormwood, saving millions from malaria (Nobel, 2015). Source — Wikipedia:
1975 CE
Monoclonal antibodies
Köhler and Milstein create monoclonal antibodies, enabling targeted diagnostics and therapies. Source — Wikipedia:
2020 CE
mRNA vaccines
Karikó and Weissman’s mRNA platform delivers rapid COVID-19 vaccines. Source — Wikipedia: