History of Medical Technology

A set of 35 vocabulary flashcards covering key people, innovations, and legislative milestones in the history of medical technology.

Hippocrates

Considered the Father of Medicine (300 B.C.–180 A.D.); authored the Hippocratic Oath and promoted examination of urine and the lungs.

Galen

Greek physician who described diabetes as “diarrhea of urine” and emphasized evaluation of the four body humors.

Ebers Papyrus

A 1550 B.C. Egyptian scroll that recorded intestinal parasites and the three stages of hookworm infection.

Uroscopy

Medieval diagnostic practice, also called “water casting,” that judged disease from the color and appearance of urine.

Alessandra Giliani

14th-century laboratory assistant at the University of Bologna; performed early lab tests and died from a lab-acquired infection.

Zacharias Janssen

Dutch lens maker (1585–1632) credited with inventing the first compound microscope.

Marcello Malpighi

Italian microscopist who founded microscopic anatomy and histology; called the Father of Physiology and Embryology.

Rudolf Virchow

German pathologist who advanced Cell Theory and founded the Archives of Pathology in Berlin.

Antonie van Leeuwenhoek

Father of Microbiology; built the first functional microscope (1660) and first described red blood cells and bacteria.

Edward Jenner

Pioneer of immunology who introduced vaccination against smallpox in 1796.

Baron Karl von Humboldt

Early 19th-century physician who linked anatomical pathology with bacteriology to explain disease causes.

Apothecaries Act of 1815

British law that regulated medical practice and spurred laboratory-based diagnostics.

John Hutchinson

Inventor of the spirometer (1834) for measuring lung vital capacity.

Jules Herrison

Inventor of the sphygmomanometer (1835) used to measure arterial blood pressure.

Louis Pasteur

Developed vaccines for anthrax and rabies (1857) and introduced pasteurization.

Gregor Mendel

Formulated the laws of heredity from pea plant studies in 1866; Father of Genetics.

Joseph Lister

Father of Antiseptic Surgery who showed that airborne microbes cause surgical infections (1870).

Robert Koch

Provided first micrographs of anthrax bacillus (1877) and isolated the tubercle bacillus, advancing bacteriology.

Elie Metchnikoff

Described phagocytes and their role in immunity in 1886, advancing cellular immunology.

Karl Landsteiner

Discovered the ABO blood group system in 1902, enabling safe blood transfusion.

August von Wassermann

Developed the first serologic test for syphilis in 1906.

Howard Ricketts

Discovered rickettsiae—organisms intermediate between bacteria and viruses—around 1906.

Hans Fischer

Elucidated the chemical structure of hemoglobin in 1929; Nobel Prize recipient.

Jonas Salk

Developed the inactivated poliomyelitis vaccine in 1954.

James Westgard

Introduced statistical Westgard Rules in 1973 for clinical laboratory quality control.

Baruch Samuel Blumberg

Developed the first hepatitis B vaccine in 1980.

Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR)

Rapid DNA amplification technique created by Kary Mullis in 1985, revolutionizing molecular diagnostics.

Dr. Silas Douglas

Opened the first well-equipped chemical laboratory at the University of Michigan in 1857 and began laboratory instruction by 1884.

William H. Welch

First to teach pathology in an American medical school (1878) and later pathology professor at Johns Hopkins University.

William Osler

Father of Modern Medicine who opened the first clinical laboratory at Johns Hopkins in 1896, focusing on malaria diagnosis.

A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis

Influential 1908 laboratory textbook by Dr. James C. Todd, later retitled “Clinical Diagnosis by Laboratory Methods.”

Insurance Act of 1911

Legislation that expanded laboratory services in hospitals by mandating better diagnostic support.

American Board of Pathology

Certifying organization for pathologists established in 1936 to standardize practice.

Closed System Blood Collection

World War II innovation using sealed containers to improve safety and storage of transfused blood.

Bachelor of Science Curriculum in Medical Technology

Standardized 4-year academic program plus 12-month lab training formalized in the United States in 1950.