Timeline

The developments in medicine since the end of the 19^th century have been remarkable. It is now almost impossible to imagine a time before it was known how the human body fought the diseases carried by micro-organisms. Since then medical research has transformed healthcare, extending and improving the quality of life for millions. Many of these remarkable discoveries would not have been possible without vital experiments on animals.

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	1898 Discovery of the malaria life-cycle		1881 Germ theory of disease proved
		1900	1902 Genetics research in mice begins
	1905 The first human transplant
	1914 Vitamin A discovered	1910	1913 Animals immunised against diphtheria
			1915 Use of stored blood possible
	1922 Isolation of insulin	1920	1921 The discovery of neuro -transmission
			1926 Treatment for pernicious anaemia
		1930	1934 Physiological role of vitamin C discovered
	1937 Anticoagulants used in humans
		1940	1940 Penicillin protects mice against bacteria
	1945 Dialysis treats kidney failure
		1950	1952 The first anti-psychotic drug used
	1955 Polio vaccination programme begins		1958 Cardiac pacemakers implanted
	1961 The first artificial heart valves	1960
			1967 Human heart transplants
	1970 Lithium approved for treament of mood disorders	1970
			1977 The last case of small-pox recorded
	1982 Treatment for leprosy developed	1980	1983 Europe's first commercial MR scanner
	1987 AZT approved to treat HIV
		1990	1992 The Hib-meningitus vaccine
	1996 Dolly the sheep is cloned
		2000	2002 Mouse genome sequence is published
	2006 Fully implanted artificial hearts		2008 The first tissue-engineered organ transplant