The World Health Organization marked 7 April as the global health awareness day. As probably many of has suffered through the discomforts of the flu season lately, we decided to take a look at some medical discoveries that make our lives much easier – and healthier!
Anesthetic
Pain used to be a part of life: just imagine an appointment at the dentist’s without having any painkillers. In the late 19th century, they used cocaine as anesthetic, first isolated by Karl Koller. Although it could quickly numb the body, it also caused problems because of its addictive nature. Around the same time, chloroform was also used to ease pain, with similarly dangerous side-effects. But they didn’t have to bite on a piece of wood anymore, at least…
X-Ray
The method that is one of the most common and conventional medical procedures of our time, was in fact, discovered by accident. On 8 November in 1895, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered that his cathode ray tube was able to produce unusual images. A few days later, he decided to x-ray his wife’s hands and the result changed the whole medical world. He became the first Nobel Prize winner in 1901.
Insulin
The most important medicine used by diabetics: the hormone that keeps our blood sugar on the proper level was discovered by numerous scientists, having two Canadians among them: Dr. Frederick Banting, a surgeon, and Charles Best, a medical student. In 1922, a 14-year-old boy, Leonard Thompson was the first human with diabetes to receive insulin and the results were remarkable: the weakened boy, in near-death condition regained strengths and started to get better. In 1923 the Nobel Committee awarded Banting and Macleod (another professor who took part in the process) the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.
DNA
One of the biggest medical discoveries: the DNA plays a huge part in our life, it does not only characterize us as individual human beings, but it has a major role in IVF, forensics and affects so many other fields, too. The first double-helix model was produced by Francis Crick and James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize for their significant achievement.