Medical Discoveries and Inventions

Discoveries and inventions that provide doctors and other medical specialists treat our illnesses and diseases.

X-rays. Discovered by Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen in 1895 when he found an image had been cast by his cathode ray tube generator.

Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI).  Method of seeing inside the body for medical purposes.  Raymond Damadian invented the first MRI scanner in 1970. The first full body image taken with an MRI machine was in 1977.  American scientist Paul Lauterbur contributed to the MRI machine success.

Carbolic Acid for sterilization, forerunner of antiseptic.  In 1865, Joseph Lister found that cleaning the operating theatre with carbolic acid helped maintain a sterilized area. This was the forerunner of the antiseptic. The now famous Listerine; solution is named after Lister.

Aspirin (USAN) salicylate drug. It is also known as acetylsalicylic acid, often used as analgesic to relieve minor aches and pains, an anti-inflammatory medication, and an antipyretic to subside fever. It was first isolated by Felix Hofmann in 1899, when he saw that his father use salicylic acid, the main metabolite or ingredient in aspirin, to help his rheumatism.

CAT-scan machine. This machine can take 3D X-rays. Godfrey Hounsfield and Allan Cormack individually worked on the idea of the CAT-scan sometime in 1972. In 1975, X-ray technology helped Robert Ledley patent the CAT-scan which scans 3D X-rays.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET).  It is a scanning machine that can see inside the human body and brain. Designed by Michael Phelps and Edward Hofman in 1974, what the machine does is read electrons and positrons to produce images.



Source:

1001 Cool Inventions by Ben Ripley. Vic, Australia: Hinkler Books P/L. 2006



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