WhoAwee.com - Free Online Famous Discoveries in Medicine for Kids

Andreas Vesalius dissects human corpses, revealing detailed information about human anatomy and correcting earlier views.

Blood Circulation (1628)

William Harvey discovers that blood circulates through the body and names the heart as the organ responsible for pumping the blood.

Blood Groups (1902)

Austrian biologist Karl Landsteiner and his group discover four blood groups and develop a system of classification. Knowledge of the different blood types is crucial to performing safe blood transfusions, now a common practice.

X-rays (1895)

Wilhelm Roentgen accidentally discovers X-rays as he conducts experiments with the radiation from cathode rays (electrons). His discovery revolutionizes physics and medicine, earning him the first-ever Nobel Prize for physics in 1901.

Germ Theory (1800s)

French chemist Louis Pasteur finds that certain microbes are disease-causing agents. At the time, the origin of diseases such as cholera, anthrax and rabies is a mystery.

Vitamins (early 1900s)

Frederick Hopkins and others discover that some diseases are caused by deficiencies of certain nutrients, later called vitamins. Through feeding experiments with laboratory animals, Hopkins concludes that these "accessory food factors" are essential to health.

Sulfa Drugs (1930s)

Gerhard Domagk discovers that Prontosil, an orange-red dye, cures infections caused by the common bacteria.

Vaccination (1796)

Edward Jenner, an English country doctor, performs the first vaccination against smallpox after discovering that immunization with cowpox provides immunity.