The greatest breakthroughs in the history of medicine
The top 3 according to 21 votes from people: Aspirin (1897) · Insulin (1921) · Vesalius's anatomy (1543). (Updated Oct 13, 2025.)
From Jenner's vaccine to anaesthesia, from germ theory to penicillin, and on to DNA, CRISPR and mRNA vaccines: the discoveries that have lengthened our lives. Which one is the most important?
Automatically translated (original in Italiano). See the original
Top 24
-
1
Aspirin (1897)
Synthesised by Felix Hoffmann.
-
2
Insulin (1921)
Banting and Best: diabetes stops being a death sentence.
-
3
Vesalius's anatomy (1543)
The first systematic study of the human body.
-
4
Antiseptic surgery (1840s–1860s)
Semmelweis, handwashing and Lister.
-
5
Germ theory
Pasteur and Koch: each disease has its microbe.
-
6
X-rays (1895)
Röntgen and the first radiographs.
-
7
Penicillin (1928)
Fleming and the first antibiotic.
-
8
Open-heart surgery (1950s)
John Gibbon's heart-lung machine.
-
9
The contraceptive pill (1960)
Pincus, Chang and Rock.
-
10
HIV and antiretrovirals
From discovering the virus to the treatments that keep it in check.
-
11
CRISPR (2012)
Doudna and Charpentier: scissors for editing genes.
-
12
The smallpox vaccine (1796)
Edward Jenner and cowpox.
-
13
Vitamins (1910s)
Casimir Funk and nutritional science.
-
14
Van Leeuwenhoek's microorganisms (1670s)
The first to see bacteria under the microscope.
-
15
Anaesthesia (1846)
William Morton's ether made painless surgery possible.
-
16
Blood groups (1901)
Karl Landsteiner made transfusions safe.
-
17
The electrocardiogram (1903)
Willem Einthoven measures the heartbeat.
-
18
Chemotherapy (1940s)
Sidney Farber and the first cancer drugs.
-
19
The DNA double helix (1953)
Watson, Crick, Franklin and Wilkins.
-
20
Polio vaccines (1955–1961)
Salk and Sabin.
-
21
MRI (1970s)
Lauterbur and Mansfield.
-
22
Organ transplantation (1954)
Joseph Murray and the first successful kidney transplant.
-
23
The Human Genome Project (1990–2003)
The complete map of our DNA.
-
24
mRNA vaccines (2020–2021)
The technology behind the COVID-19 vaccines.
How is this ranking ordered? By people's votes: each ▲ adds a point and each ▼ takes one away. Anyone can vote and add what is missing.
Is something missing?
Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first!