Ancient Greece
Individuals
•Four Humours
•Clinical
Observation
Short-term impact
First purely practical theory
of illness – no gods needed
Religion
Long-term impact
Used by Galen to develop
the theory of Opposites
Bleeding and purging
became very popular
treatments
Clinical Observation still
used today.
Ancient Rome
Individual
Risk- taking
Money
•Brain controlled the
body
•Theory of Opposites
based on the 4
humours
•Wrote lots of books
but included lots of
errors in them.
Short-term impact
His books were very
popular and quickly spread
across Europe and Arabia
Religion
Long-term impact
The Church backed his
ideas. People could not
question Galen’s work or
correct his mistakes. He
also said women should not
be doctors.
The Dark Ages
The Medieval
Period
The Renaissance
Individuals
Attitudes
•Showed that Galen
made mistakes
•Made accurate
anatomy books
Attitudes
Technology
Printing
Short-term impact
Showed that Galen could
be wrong
Long-term impact
Made better surgery
possible (once they
discovered anaesthetics!)
Individuals
Showed that the Blood
circulated around the
body
Printing
Technology
Attitudes
Experiment
Short-term impact
Not much – many people
didn’t believe Harvey and
carried on doing bleeding.
This contributed to the
death of King Charles II.
Long-term impact
Made successful surgery
possible and led to research
into blood transfusions.
The Industrial
Period
Chance
Individuals
Discovered that
cowpox could be used
as a vaccine to
prevent smallpox
Technology
Risk-taking
Short-term impact
Saved hundreds of lives,
especially after the
government paid him to do
the first national
vaccination programme.
Long-term impact
Saved thousands from
death and disability after
smallpox.
Inspired people like Pasteur
to find more vaccines.
Chance
Discovered that Germs
were the cause of disease.
Industry
With his team, discovered
the method for creating
vaccines.
Individuals
Created vaccines for
Chicken Cholera, Anthrax
and Rabies
Short-term impact
Inspired people like Koch to
look for specific Germs
Inspired public health
improvements
Inspired improvements in
surgery
Rivalry
Communication
Long-term impact
Saved millions of lives as
vaccines, public health
improvements and
antiseptics came into use.
Made new drugs like
antibiotics possible.
Chance
Industry
Individuals
Developed a new method
of growing germs.
Used new industrial dyes
to stain germs.
Developed new methods
of photography to make
records of germs he
found.
Short-term impact
Found the causes of
important diseases like TB
and Cholera. Made it
possible for others to find
even more.
Inspired Pasteur to beat
him!
Rivalry
Communication
Long-term impact
Ehrlich, who worked with
Koch, later developed the
chemical dyes as ‘magic
bullets’ to cure syphilis.
These ‘sulphanomides’
were later also used against
blood poisoning.
Individuals
Chance
Communication
Nightingale took over
nursing at the military
hospital in Scutari and
demonstrated that nursing
saved lives.
Back in England she used
her fame to set up a
nursing school and develop
nursing as a respectable
profession.
Short-term impact
Many lives were saved by
Nightingale and her nurses
in Scutari and in England.
She set up training for
nurses.
Attitudes
Long-term impact
The government made
training for nurses the law.
Nightingale showed that
women could save lives and
helped change attitudes.
Women eventually became
doctors.
Individuals
Teamwork
Communication
Went to nursing school to
get training to become a
doctor.
Qualified through the Society
of Apothecaries exams.
Taught herself French and
went to university in Paris to
earn her medical degree.
Set up the New Hospital for
Women in London.
Short-term impact
Pushed all the boundaries
stopping women being
doctors and some
loopholes were closed as a
result.
Inspired other women.
Attitudes
Government
Long-term impact
In 1874 she helped to
create the London School
of Medicine for Women.
In 1876 a law was passed
which allowed women to
enter train as doctors and
surgeons.
Modern
Chance
Individuals
War
Found an interesting
mould, tested it and
showed that it was safe
for animals and killed
germs in a dish.
Wrote up his work in a
science journal.
Short-term impact
None – a rather boring
article on mould.
Money
Long-term impact
Florey and Chain found his
article and developed the
mould into a new drug –
penicillin.
Florey and Chain
Communication
Team work
War
Researching germ killers
– found Fleming’s
article.
Developed Penicillin as
a drug and proved it
worked in humans.
Took their ideas to the
USA to get the drug
manufactured.
Short-term impact
Enough penicillin was made
to save many lives in the
final battles of WWII.
War
Government
Industry
Long-term impact
Millions of lives were saved
as a result of antibiotics.
Fleming got more credit
than Florey and Chain
though!
Teamwork
Technology
Rivalry
Investigated the
structure of DNA.
Persuaded a member of
a rival team to show
them a special X-ray
photograph.
Used the information in
the photo to work out
the 3-D structure of DNA.
Short-term impact
Scientists got very excited!
Long-term impact
Scientists worked out the
purpose of specific genes
leading to DNA testing for
diseases, ‘designer’ babies
and the possibility of ‘gene
therapy’.