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. 1900–1991

    Ragnar Granit

    Ragnar Granit (1900–1991) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1967). 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. 1901

    ABO blood groups

    Karl Landsteiner identifies the ABO blood groups, the basis for far safer transfusions.

  3. 1901

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1901

    The 1901 award linked this prize to Emil von Behring. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  4. 1901–1997

    Charles B. Huggins

    Charles B. Huggins (1901–1997) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1966). 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.

  5. 1902

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1902

    The 1902 award linked this prize to Ronald Ross. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  6. 1902–1994

    André Lwoff

    André Lwoff (1902–1994) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1965). 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. 1902–1992

    Barbara McClintock

    An American geneticist who, studying maize, showed that some genetic elements can change position on a chromosome. Her research is recognized without treating plant genetics as an isolated individual achievement.

  8. 1903

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1903

    The 1903 award linked this prize to Niels Ryberg Finsen. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  9. 1903–1982

    Hugo Theorell

    Hugo Theorell (1903–1982) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1955). 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. 1903–1989

    George Beadle

    George Beadle (1903–1989) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1958). 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.

  11. 1903–1997

    Sir John Eccles

    Sir John Eccles (1903–1997) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1963). 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. 1903–1983

    Keffer Hartline

    Keffer Hartline (1903–1983) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1967). 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. 1903–1989

    Konrad Lorenz

    Konrad Lorenz (1903–1989) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1973). 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.

  14. 1903–1996

    George D. Snell

    George D. Snell (1903–1996) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1980). 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.

  15. 1904

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1904

    The 1904 award linked this prize to Ivan Pavlov. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  16. 1904–1979

    Werner Forssmann

    Werner Forssmann (1904–1979) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1956). 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. 1905

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1905

    The 1905 award linked this prize to Robert Koch. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  18. 1905–1993

    Severo Ochoa

    Severo Ochoa (1905–1993) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1959). 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.

  19. 1905–1983

    Ulf von Euler

    Ulf von Euler (1905–1983) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1970). 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.

  20. 1905–1998

    George H. Hitchings

    George H. Hitchings (1905–1998) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1988). 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. 1906

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1906

    The 1906 award linked this prize to Camillo Golgi and Santiago Ramón y Cajal. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  22. 1906–1979

    Ernst B. Chain

    Ernst B. Chain (1906–1979) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1945). 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. 1906–1997

    George Wald

    George Wald (1906–1997) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1967). 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.

  24. 1906–1981

    Max Delbrück

    Max Delbrück (1906–1981) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1969). 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.

  25. 1907

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1907

    The 1907 award linked this prize to Alphonse Laveran. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  26. 1907–1992

    Daniel Bovet

    Daniel Bovet (1907–1992) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1957). 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. 1907–1988

    Nikolaas Tinbergen

    Nikolaas Tinbergen (1907–1988) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1973). 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. 1908

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1908

    The 1908 award linked this prize to Ilya Mechnikov and Paul Ehrlich. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  29. 1908–1997

    Alfred D. Hershey

    Alfred D. Hershey (1908–1997) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1969). 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. 1909

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1909

    The 1909 award linked this prize to Theodor Kocher. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.