1900–1999

• 1901 – Karl Landsteiner discovers the existence of different human blood types
• 1901 – Alois Alzheimer identifies the first case of what becomes known as Alzheimer's disease
• 1903 - Willem Einthoven discovers electrocardiography (ECG/EKG)
• 1906 – Frederick Hopkins suggests the existence of vitamins and suggests that a lack of vitamins causes scurvy and rickets
• 1907 – Paul Ehrlich develops a chemotherapeutic cure for sleeping sickness
• 1908 – Victor Horsley and R. Clarke invents the stereotactic method
• 1909 – First Intrauterine device described by Richard Richter.^[15]
• 1910 - Hans Christian Jacobeus performs the first laparoscopy on humans
• 1917 – Julius Wagner-Jauregg discovers the malarial fever shock therapy for general paresis of the insane
• 1921 – Edward Mellanby discovers vitamin D and shows that its absence causes rickets
• 1921 – Frederick Banting and Charles Best discover insulin – important for the treatment of diabetes
• 1921 – Fidel Pagés pioneers epidural anesthesia
• 1923 – First vaccine for Diphtheria
• 1926 – First vaccine for Pertussis
• 1927 – First vaccine for Tuberculosis
• 1927 – First vaccine for Tetanus
• 1928 – Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
• 1929 – Hans Berger discovers human electroencephalography
• 1932 – Gerhard Domagk develops a chemotherapeutic cure for streptococcus
• 1933 – Manfred Sakel discovers insulin shock therapy
• 1935 – Ladislas J. Meduna discovers metrazol shock therapy

• 1935 – First vaccine for Yellow Fever
• 1936 – Egas Moniz discovers prefrontal lobotomy for treating mental diseases; Enrique Finochietto develops the now ubiquitous self-retaining thoracic retractor
• 1938 – Ugo Cerletti and Lucio Bini discover electroconvulsive therapy
• 1943 – Willem J Kolff build the first dialysis machine
• 1944 - Disposable Catheter - David Sheridan [18]
• 1946 - Chemotherapy - Alfred Gilman and Louis S Goodman [18]
• 1947 - Defibrillator - Claude Beck [18]
• 1948 - Acetaminophen - Julis Axelrod [18]
• 1949 – First implant of intraocular lens, by Sir Harold Ridley
• 1949 - Ventilator - Jone Emerson [18]
• 1952 – Jonas Salk develops the first polio vaccine
• 1952 - Cloning - Robert Briggs & Thomas King [18]
• 1953 - Heart-Lung Machine - Dr John Heysham Gibbon [18]
• 1953 - Medical Ultrasonography - Inge Edler [18]
• 1954 - Joseph Murray performs the first human kidney transplant (on identical twins)
• 1954 - Ventouse - Tage Malmstrom [18]
• 1955 - Tetracycline - Lloyd Conover [18]
• 1956 - Beta Blockers - Sir James Black [18]
• 1956 - Metered Dose Inhaler - 3M [18]
• 1956 - Synthetic Blood - Thomas Chan [18]
• 1957 – William Grey Walter invents the brain EEG topography (toposcope)
• 1958 - Pacemaker - Rune Elmqvist
• 1959 - In Vitro Fertilization - Min Chueh Chang [18]
• 1960 – Invention of Cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR)
• 1960 – First combined oral contraceptive approved by the FDA^[15]
• 1962 - Hip Replacement - John Charnley [18]
• 1962 – First Oral Polio Vaccine
• 1963 - Artificial Heart - Paul Winchell [18]
• 1963 - Thomas Starzl performs the first human liver transplant
• 1963 - James Hardy performs the first human lung transplant
• 1963 - Valium (diazepam) - Leo H Sternbach [18]
• 1964 – First vaccine for Measles
• 1965 – Frank Pantridge installs the first portable defibrillator
• 1965 - Rubella Vaccine - Harry Martin Meyer [18]
• 1965 – First commercial ultrasound
• 1966 - Richard Lillehei performs the first human pancreas transplant
• 1967 – First vaccine for Mumps
• 1967 – Christiaan Barnard performs the first human heart transplant
• 1968 - Powered Prothesis - Samuel Alderson [18]
• 1968 - Controlled Drug Delivery - Alejandro Zaffaroni [18]
• 1969 - Internet - Advanced Research Project Agency (ARPA) [18]
• 1969 - Balloon Catheter - Thomas Fogarty [18]
• 1969 - Cochlear Implant - William House [18]
• 1970 – First vaccine for Rubella
• 1970 - Cyclosporine, the first effective immunosuppressive drug is introduced in organ transplant practice
• 1971 - Genetically Modified Organisms - Ananda Chakrabart [18]
• 1971 - Magnetic Resonance Imaging - Raymond Vahan Damadian [18]
• 1971 - Computed Tomography (CT or CAT Scan) - Godfrey Hounsfield [18]
• 1971 - Transdermal Patches - Alejandro Zaffaroni [18]
• 1971 – Sir Godfrey Hounsfield invents the first commercial CT scanner
• 1972 - Insulin Pump - Dean Kamen [18]
• 1973 - Laser Eye Surgery - Mani Lai Bhaumik [18]
• 1974 - Liposuction - Giorgio Fischer [18]
• 1976 – First commercial PET scanner
• 1978 – Last fatal case of smallpox^[16]
• 1979 Antiviral Drugs - George Hitchings & Gertrude Elion [18]
• 1980 – Raymond Damadian builds first commercial MRI scanner
• 1980 - Lithotripter - Dornier Research Group [18]
• 1980 – First vaccine for Hepatitis B - Dr Baruch Blimberg [18]
• 1981 - Artificial Skin - John F Burke & Ioannis V Yannas [18]
• 1981 - Bruce Reitz performs the first human heart-lung combined transplant
• 1982 - Humulin insulin - Eli Lilly [18]
• Interferon Cloning - Dr Sidney Pestika [18]
• 1985 - Automated DNA Sequencer - Leroy Hood & Lloyd Smith [18]
• 1985 - Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) - Kaery Mullis [18]
• 1985 - Surgical Robot - Dr Yik San Kwoh [18]
• 1985 - DNA Fingerprinting - Alec Jeffreys [18]
• 1985 - Capsule Endoscopy - Tarun Mullick [18]
• 1986 - Fluoxetine HCl - Eli Lilly and Co [18]
• 1987 – Ben Carson, leading a 70-member medical team in Germany, was the first to separate occipital craniopagus twins.
• 1987 - Statins - Merck & Co. [18]
• 1987 - Tissue Engineering - Joseph Vacanti & Robert Langer [18]
• 1988 - Intravascular Stent - Julio Palmaz [18]
• 1988 - Laser Cataract Surgery - Dr Patricia Bath [18]
• 1989 - Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) - Alan Handyside [18]
• 1989 - DNA Microarray - Stephen Fodor [18]
• 1989 - World Wide Web WWW - Tim Berners-Lee [18]
• 1990 - Gamow Bag ® - Dr Igor Gamow [18]
• 1992 – First vaccine for Hepatitis A available^[17]
• 1992 - Electroactive Polymer (Artificial Muscle) - SRI International [18]
• 1992 - Intracytoplasmic Sperm Injection (ICSI) - Andre van Steirteghem [18]
• 1998 - Stem Cell Therapy - James Thomson [18]