--- title: The Evolution of Medicine description: Modern medicine has changed the way we live. image: https://blog.diversitynursing.com/hs-fs/file-642993420-jpg/images/evolutionfomedicine-resized-600.jpg --- ![](https://blog.diversitynursing.com/hs-fs/file-642993420-jpg/images/evolutionfomedicine-resized-600.jpg) ### The Evolution of Medicine *Posted By* Alycia Sullivan Fri, Apr 04, 2014 @ 11:03 AM - - - ![evolutionfomedicine resized 600](https://blog.diversitynursing.com/hs-fs/file-642993420-jpg/images/evolutionfomedicine-resized-600.jpg) Modern medicine has helped lead to a surge in average life expectancy, which was only about 36 in the late 1800s. With humans routinely living into their 100s, advances in medical science are to thank. Let’s take a journey through the history of medical advancements. Life expectancy by year 1850 36.6 1890 39.7 1900 48.3 1911 50.2 1921 55.7 1931 60.9 1941 64.5 1951 67.1 1961 70.3 1971 71.4 1981 73.1 1990 73.7 1992 74.2 1993 74.8 1995 73.9 1997 74.2 1998 74.5 1999 74.7 2000 74.8 2001 75.1 2002 75.4 2003 77.9 2004 78.3 2005 77.8 2006 77.7 2007 77.9 2010 78.7 2011 78.7 ## BC **Cancer** 400 BC: Hippocrates uses the term “karcinos” to describe tumors. “Karcinos” evolved into cancer. It’s not yet known what causes cancer, with theories including imbalanced “humors” in the body. **Immunization and disease prevention** 400 BC: Hippocrates describes mumps, diphtheria, epidemic jaundice and other conditions. **Mental illness** 400 BC: Mental disorders are understood as diseases rather than symptoms of demonic possession or signs of having displeased the gods. ## 2nd century AD **Cancer** 2nd century AD: Galen describes surgical treatments for breast cancer, which include removing early-stage tumors. But the surgeries are brutal and often fatal. For centuries, these rudimentary surgeries are the only treatment for cancer. 1100s **Immunization and disease prevention** 1100s: The variolation technique is developed, involving the inoculation of children and adults with dried scab material recovered from smallpox patients. ## 1400s **Mental illness** 1407: The first European establishment specifically for people with mental illness is probably established in Valencia, Spain. ## 1500s **Surgery and medical technology** 1540 AD: English barbers and surgeons perform tooth extractions and blood-letting. ## 1600s **Mental illness** 1600s: Europeans increasingly begin to isolate mentally ill people, often housing them with handicapped people, vagrants and delinquents. Those considered insane are increasingly treated inhumanely, often chained to walls and kept in dungeons. ## 1700s **Immunization and disease prevention** 1798: Edward Jenner publishes his work on the development of a vaccination that would protect against smallpox. He tests his theory by inoculating 8-year-old James Phipps with cowpox pustule liquid recovered from the hand of a milkmaid, Sarah Nelmes. **Mental illness** Late 1700s: After the French Revolution, French physician Phillippe Pinel takes over the Bicêtre insane asylum and forbids the use of chains and shackles. He removes patients from dungeons, provides them with sunny rooms and allows them to exercise on the grounds. Yet in other places, mistreatment persists. ## 1800s **Surgery and medical technology** 1818: Human blood is transfused from one person to another for the first time. **Mental illness** 1840s: U.S. reformer Dorothea Dix observes mentally ill people in Massachusetts, seeing men and women of all ages incarcerated with criminals, left unclothed and in darkness and forced to go without heat or bathrooms. **Cancer & surgery/medical technology ** 1846: Anesthesia becomes widely available, helping expand options for surgery. Among cancer patients, surgery to remove tumors takes off. **Surgery and medical technology** 1867: British surgeon Joseph Lister publishes Antiseptic Principle in the Practice of Surgery, extolling the virtues of cleanliness in surgery. The mortality rate for surgical patients immediately falls. **Immunization and disease prevention** 1881: Louis Pasteur and George Miller Sternberg almost simultaneously isolate and grow the pneumococcus organism. **Mental illness** 1883: Mental illness is studied more scientifically as German psychiatrist Emil Kraepelin distinguishes mental disorders. Though subsequent research will disprove some of his findings, his fundamental distinction between manic-depressive psychosis and schizophrenia holds to this day. **Surgery and medical technology** 1885: The first successful appendectomy is performed in Iowa. **Mental illness** Late 1800s: The expectation in the United States that hospitals for the mentally ill and humane treatment will cure the sick does not prove true. State mental hospitals become over-crowded, and custodial care supersedes humane treatment. New York World reporter Nellie Bly poses as a mentally ill person to become an inmate at an asylum. Her reports from inside result in more funding to improve conditions. **Cancer** 1889: William Halsted develops the radical mastectomy to treat breast cancer; the technique includes the surgical removal of the tumor, breast, overlying skin and muscle. **Surgery and medical technology** 1890s: Chemical agents are used to minimize germs. Carbolic acid is put on incisions to minimize germs and decrease infection rates. **Cancer** 1895: Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen invents X-rays. Radiation therapy follows. **Surgery and medical technology** 1895: The first X-ray is performed in Germany. ## 1900s **Mental illness** Early 1900s: The primary treatments of neurotic mental disorders, and sometimes psychosis, are psychoanalytical therapies (“talking cures”) developed by Sigmund Freud and others, such as Carl Jung. **Immunization and disease prevention** 1914: Typhoid and rabies vaccine are first licensed in the U.S.; tetanus toxoid is introduced. **Immunization and disease prevention** 1915: Pertussis vaccine is licensed. **Immunization and disease prevention** 1918: The Spanish influenza pandemic is responsible for 25 million to 50 million deaths worldwide, including more than 500,000 in the U.S. **Cancer** 1919: A chemical in the mustard gas used during World War I is found to reduce white blood cells. Chemotherapy is born. **Surgery and medical technology** 1922: Insulin is first used for treatment of diabetes, allowing diabetics to survive after diagnosis. **Surgery and medical technology** 1928: Antibiotics dramatically decrease post-surgical infections. **Mental illness** 1930s: Drugs, electro-convulsive therapy, and surgery are used to treat people with schizophrenia and others with persistent mental illnesses. Some are infected with malaria; others are treated with repeated insulin-induced comas. Others have parts of their brain removed through lobotomies. **Surgery and medical technology** 1937: The first blood bank opens, helping make more surgery possible by treating bleeding during the procedure. **Immunization and disease prevention** 1943: Penicillin becomes mass-produced. **Mental illness** 1946: President Harry Truman signs the National Mental Health Act, calling for the National Institute of Mental Health to conduct research into the brain and behavior and reduce mental illness. **Cancer** 1947: Chemotherapy records its first, though temporary, success with the remission of a pediatric leukemia patient. **Mental illness** 1949: Australian psychiatrist J. F. J. Cade introduces the use of lithium to treat psychosis. Lithium gains wide usage in the mid-1960s to treat those with manic depression, now known as bipolar disorder. **Surgery and medical technology** 1950: John Hopps invents the cardiac pacemaker. **Cancer** 1950s: Findings related to DNA give rise to molecular biology. **Mental illness** 1950s: A series of successful anti-psychotic drugs are introduced that do not cure psychosis but control its symptoms. The first of the anti-psychotics, the major class of drug used to treat psychosis, is discovered in France in 1952 and is named chlorpromazine (Thorazine). Studies show that 70 percent of patients with schizophrenia clearly improve on anti-psychotic drugs. **Mental illness** 1950s: A new type of therapy, behavior therapy, suggests that people with phobias can be trained to overcome them. **Surgery and medical technology** 1953: A heart-lung bypass machine is used successfully for the first time. **Immunization and disease prevention** 1955: The first polio vaccine is licensed, pioneered by Dr. Jonas Salk. The Polio Vaccination Assistance Act is enacted by Congress, the first federal involvement in immunization activities. **Surgery and medical technology** 1957: William Grey Walter invents the brain EEG topography (toposcope). **Cancer** 1964: A U.S. surgeon general’s report establishes an undeniable link between smoking and cancer. **Mental illness** Mid-1960s: Many seriously mentally ill people are removed from institutions. In the United States they are directed toward local mental health homes and facilities. The number of institutionalized mentally ill people in the United States will drop from a peak of 560,000 to just over 130,000 in 1980. Many people suffering from mental illness become homeless because of inadequate housing and follow-up care. **Immunization and disease prevention** 1966: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announces the first national measles eradication campaign. Within 2 years, measles incidence decrease by more than 90% compared with prevaccine-era levels. **Surgery and medical technology** 1967: A heart transplant is performed by South African physician Christian Barnard. The heart recipient survived 18 days until succumbing to pneumonia. **Cancer** 1971: President Richard M. Nixon signs the National Cancer Act. **Cancer** 1972: The development of computed tomography (CT) revolutionizes radiology. **Cancer** 1973: Dr. Janet Rowley shows chromosome abnormalities in those with cancer. **Surgery and medical technology** 1978: A baby conceived via in-vitro fertilization is born. **Mental illness** 1980s: An estimated one-third of all homeless people are considered seriously mentally ill, the vast majority of them suffering from schizophrenia. **Cancer** 1981: FDA approves the first vaccine against hepatitis B, one of the primary causes of liver cancer. **Surgery and medical technology** 1982: The Jarvik-7 artificial heart is used. **Surgery and medical technology** 1985: The first documented robotic surgery is performed. **Mental illness** 1986: Prozac is developed to treat various mental illnesses. **Cancer** Early 1990s: For the first time, overall cancer death rates begin to fall. **Mental illness** 1990s: A new generation of anti-psychotic drugs is introduced. These drugs prove to be more effective in treating schizophrenia and have fewer side effects. **Immunization and disease prevention** 1994: The entire Western Hemisphere is certified as “polio-free” by the World Health Organization. ## 2000s **Surgery and medical technology** 2000: Robotic surgical systems win U.S. Food and Drug Administration approval. **Cancer** 2001: The FDA approves Gleevec, the first drug to target a specific gene mutation. **Surgery and medical technology** 2003: The sequence of a complete human genome is published. **Immunization and disease prevention** 2006: A vaccine is developed to prevent cervical cancer due to human papillomavirus. **Immunization and disease prevention** 2009: The vaccine court rules that the mumps/measles/rubella vaccine, when administered with thimerosal-containing vaccines, does not cause autism. Source: [Best Medical Degrees](http://www.bestmedicaldegrees.com/evolution/)  Topics : - [history](https://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/topic/history) - [change](https://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/topic/change) - [evolution of medicine](https://blog.diversitynursing.com/blog/topic/evolution-of-medicine) ### Recent Posts [![](https://blog.diversitynursing.com/hubfs/GettyImages-1428257600.jpg) ##### Advancing Mental Health Equity for Every Community Thu, Jul 02, 2026 @ 09:34 AM Every July, the United States observes National Minority Mental Health Month, a time dedicated to raising awareness about the unique mental health challenges experienced by racial and ethnic minority... 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