The month of January is celebrated as national blood donation month by the American Red Cross. In honor of this giving pastime, I compiled a list of inventions that have benefitted the medical community. From the early days of medical advancement, to the modern day miracles we have now, let’s explore!
The Medical Thermometer
Gabriel Fahrenheit first invented the mercury thermometer in 1714, which, although is being phased out by the digital thermometer, is still in use even today. The risks posed to the mercury breaking within the glass tube are one of the factors for safety concerns. He realized that the liquids density changed with temperature, creating an accurate unit of measure for patients with a fever.
The Stethoscope
Before this invention, doctors would literally place their ear to the patient’s chest to hear their heartbeat. This proved to be difficult and inaccurate, especially if there were added layers of fat, or an obstruction on the chest area. For doctor Rene Laennec, this was exactly the case for one of his patients. In response, he created a cone shaped device to amplify the sound. The basic principal is still used today.
The X-Ray
It’s hard to imagine trying to figure out what what wrong with a patient without having a clear look inside – without cutting into them. German physicist Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen actually accidently came across the device while working one day. He was studying electric currents travelling through layers of gas when in a dark room, he noticed one of the rays gave off a luminescent glow, usually invisible to the naked eye. Since he didn’t know what these were called, he named it ray-X. He later obtained the Nobel Prize in physics for his discovery.
Antibiotics
The age of antibiotics began in 1907, with the creation of Salvarsan by Alfred Bertheim and Paul Ehrlich. Today, that is known as Arsphenemine, the active ingredient that makes antibiotics possible. This was the first known drug that could fully rid people of syphilis. This marked the beginning of eradicating many preventable diseases, and is widely used today. Someday even too much so, that eventually bacteria will have the ability to evolve, rendering the drug ineffective. Let’s hope not!
Hypodermic Needle
The modern needle was actually only invented about 150 years ago, however, the practice of placing liquids in small tubes to deliver to the body has been a practice as far back as the roman empire. Quill pens were used for transfusions, and even dogs were used as guinea pigs for most of this experimentation. Pretty barbaric to live in the past, ill tell ya.
Glasses
I would argue that this is the most underrated invention of all time. The ability to see is something we take for granted, “seeing” (see what I did there, heh heh) that about 40 percent of the population needs glasses at some point in their life. Old prototypes actually had to be balanced on the nose and were used by monks and brothers to illustrate and hand write books. They were variations of glass that were adjusted to mostly enlarge the text for magnification. With modern advancement, we’ve obviously improved the technology of glasses so that they are specifically tailored to your vision needs. Amazing!
What are some medical inventions that you know revolutionized the world? Comment below!