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. 1918–2007

    Arthur Kornberg

    Arthur Kornberg (1918–2007) 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.

  2. 1918–1999

    Gertrude B. Elion

    Gertrude B. Elion (1918–1999) 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.

  3. 1918–2009

    Edwin G. Krebs

    Edwin G. Krebs (1918–2009) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1992). 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.

  4. 1918–2004

    Edward B. Lewis

    Edward B. Lewis (1918–2004) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1995). 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. 1919

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1919

    The 1919 award linked this prize to Jules Bordet. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  6. 1919–2004

    Godfrey N. Hounsfield

    Godfrey N. Hounsfield (1919–2004) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1979). 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. 1919–2012

    Joseph E. Murray

    Joseph E. Murray (1919–2012) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1990). 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. 1920

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1920

    The 1920 award linked this prize to August Krogh. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  9. 1920–2013

    François Jacob

    François Jacob (1920–2013) 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.

  10. 1920–2011

    Baruj Benacerraf

    Baruj Benacerraf (1920–2011) 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.

  11. 1920–2012

    E. Donnall Thomas

    E. Donnall Thomas (1920–2012) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1990). 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. 1920–2021

    Edmond H. Fischer

    Edmond H. Fischer (1920–2021) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1992). 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. 1920–1958

    Rosalind Franklin

    A British chemist and crystallographer whose X-ray diffraction images were decisive for the study of DNA structure. Her career also included research on coal, viruses, and materials.

  14. 1921

    Introduction of the BCG tuberculosis vaccine

    BCG was first administered to humans in 1921. It became an early preventive tool against tuberculosis and was later incorporated into immunization programmes; its effectiveness depends on the form of tuberculosis, age, and epidemiological setting, so it did not eliminate the disease by itself.

  15. 1921

    Insulin for diabetes

    The isolation of insulin enables effective treatment of a disease that was often fatal.

  16. 1921–2011

    Rosalyn Yalow

    Rosalyn Yalow (1921–2011) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1977). 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. 1922

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1922

    The 1922 award linked this prize to Archibald V. Hill and Otto Meyerhof. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  18. 1922–1993

    Robert W. Holley

    Robert W. Holley (1922–1993) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1968). 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. 1922–2011

    H. Gobind Khorana

    H. Gobind Khorana (1922–2011) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1968). 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. 1922–2020

    Stanley Cohen

    Stanley Cohen (1922–2020) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1986). 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. 1923

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1923

    The 1923 award linked this prize to Frederick G. Banting and John Macleod. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  22. 1923–2008

    D. Carleton Gajdusek

    D. Carleton Gajdusek (1923–2008) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1976). 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. 1923–2018

    Arvid Carlsson

    Arvid Carlsson (1923–2018) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (2000). 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. 1924

    Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1924

    The 1924 award linked this prize to Willem Einthoven. This event records institutional recognition; it does not date the discovery, work, or action being recognized.

  25. 1924–2024

    Roger Guillemin

    Roger Guillemin (1924–2024) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1977). 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.

  26. 1924–1998

    Allan M. Cormack

    Allan M. Cormack (1924–1998) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1979). 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. 1924–… (as of 2026-09-01)

    Torsten N. Wiesel

    Torsten N. Wiesel (1924–present) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1981). 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. 1924–2010

    Sir James W. Black

    Sir James W. Black (1924–2010) 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.

  29. 1925–2008

    Joshua Lederberg

    Joshua Lederberg (1925–2008) 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.

  30. 1925–2011

    Baruch S. Blumberg

    Baruch S. Blumberg (1925–2011) appears in the official census of individual laureates for Physiology or Medicine (1976). 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.