Medical discoveries

This selection brings together events, individual lives, and awards related to medicine. Those types can be separated in the atlas: a biography or prize is not equivalent to a medical discovery.

Canonical records
400
Events
155
People
236
Processes and periods
9
Compare in the atlasSelection criteria and limits

Topics represented

Medicine (270) · Nobel laureates (233) · People (233) · Physiology or Medicine (116) · Nobel Prizes (116) · Science (43) · Epidemics & public health (7) · Personas científicas (6) · Roman Empire (3) · Vacunación (3) · VIH/sida (3) · Antirretrovirales (2)

View distribution by region and period
Canonical records by regional label and start date. These are numerical analysis bins, not universal historical periods. A multi-region record appears in multiple rows; do not add rows as a unique-record total.
RegionBefore 3000 BCE3000–1 BCE1–14991500–17991800–18991900–1999Since 2000
Africa0030230
Americas0000261152
Asia00402120
Europe01345817028
Oceania0000260
Global / no specific region01102131

Records and sources

Ordered by start date. Long lives and processes may begin before the period you want to study.

  1. 1948–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Randy W. Schekman

    Randy W. Schekman (1948–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2013). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  2. 1948–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    James P. Allison

    James P. Allison (1948–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2018). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  3. 1948

    Streptomycin randomized trial

    The Medical Research Council publishes a streptomycin trial for pulmonary tuberculosis with centralized random allocation. It is a landmark of modern controlled trials, not the sole origin of clinical methodology.

  4. 1949

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1949

    The 1949 award linked this prize to Walter Hess and Egas Moniz. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  5. 1949–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Sir Paul Nurse

    Sir Paul Nurse (1949–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2001). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  6. 1949–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Michael W. Young

    Michael W. Young (1949–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2017). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  7. 1949–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Michael Houghton

    Michael Houghton (1949–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2020). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  8. 1950

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1950

    The 1950 award linked this prize to Edward C. Kendall, Tadeus Reichstein and Philip S. Hench. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  9. 1950–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    James E. Rothman

    James E. Rothman (1950–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2013). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  10. 1951

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1951

    The 1951 award linked this prize to Max Theiler. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  11. 1951–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Shimon Sakaguchi

    Shimon Sakaguchi (1951–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2025). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  12. 1951–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Barry J. Marshall

    Barry J. Marshall (1951–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2005). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  13. c. 1952

    Clinical introduction of chlorpromazine

    Early clinical reports on chlorpromazine in psychiatry appear in Paris. Its later adoption was broad, but its effects and uses did not by themselves replace other forms of care.

  14. 1952

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1952

    The 1952 award linked this prize to Selman A. Waksman. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  15. 1952–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Gary Ruvkun

    Gary Ruvkun (1952–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2024). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  16. 1952–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Jack W. Szostak

    Jack W. Szostak (1952–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2009). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  17. 1952–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Charles M. Rice

    Charles M. Rice (1952–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2020). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  18. 1953

    DNA double helix

    The double-helix model explains how DNA can store and copy genetic information.

  19. 1953

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1953

    The 1953 award linked this prize to Hans Krebs and Fritz Lipmann. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  20. 1953–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Victor Ambros

    Victor Ambros (1953–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2024). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  21. 1954

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1954

    The 1954 award linked this prize to John F. Enders, Thomas H. Weller and Frederick C. Robbins. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  22. 1954–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe

    Sir Peter J. Ratcliffe (1954–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2019). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  23. 1954

    Kidney transplant between identical twins

    A kidney transplant between identical twins demonstrates prolonged survival without the usual rejection problem between non-identical people. It did not yet solve transplantation’s broader immunological challenge.

  24. 1955

    Trial and adoption of inactivated polio vaccine

    In 1955, the inactivated polio vaccine developed by Jonas Salk’s team was announced to have shown efficacy in a large field trial. That same year, cases linked to a contaminated lot temporarily halted the US programme, underscoring that production, regulation, and safety surveillance are part of a vaccination campaign.

  25. 1955

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1955

    The 1955 award linked this prize to Hugo Theorell. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  26. 1955–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Svante Pääbo

    Svante Pääbo (1955–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2022). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  27. 1955–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Katalin Karikó

    Katalin Karikó (1955–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2023). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  28. 1955–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Thomas C. Südhof

    Thomas C. Südhof (1955–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2013). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  29. 1955–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    David Julius

    David Julius (1955–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2021). This record represents the person’s life; each award is dated separately, and the prize year does not stand for the date of their whole body of work.

  30. 1955

    Polio vaccine

    Jonas Salk’s vaccine trial results mark a decisive advance against polio.