1. Pharmacology & Medicine
2735-2700 BC: Ancient Chinese herbal primitive type of materia medica ‘Pen Tsao’ written
by Emperor Shennung.
2000 BC: Ancient Egyptian medicinal treatise ‘Kahun Papyrus’ was used.
1550 BC: Egyptian medicinal treatise ‘Ebers Papyrus’ was used.
460-375 BC: Hippocrates advocated little uses of drugs.
384-322 BC: Aristotle gave scientific basis of medicine.
380-287 BC: Theophrastus classified medicinal herbs according to their properties.
77 AD: First Materia Medica was written by Dioscorides describing herbs, minerals, and
animal products as medicinal preparations.
131-201AD: Galen advocated use of many herbal preparations (polypharmacy), which
subsequently became popular as galenical preparations.
1493-1541: Paracelsus (Original name: Phillip Von Hohenheim) pioneered the use of
chemicals and minerals in medicine. He introduced tinctures of several plants and inorganic chemicals for therapeutic uses. He is also often cited as coining the phrase
"the dose makes the poison" or "All things are poison and nothing is without poison,
only the dose permits something not to be poisonous."
1514-1544: First Pharmacopoeia was compiled by German Valerius Cordus.
1630: The Spanish Jesuit missionaries in Peru were taught the healing power of the
cinchona bark (Quinine) by natives, its use was started to cure malaria.
1776: The first anaesthetic, nitrous oxide gas (laughing gas) was discovered by Priestly.
1783: William Withering (Britain) used digitalis (foxglove) in treatment of dropsy (swelling
at congestive heart failure).
1783-1841: Friedrich Serturner (German pharmacist) isolated a narcotic alkaloid from
opium and named it as morphine after Greek god of dream Morpheus. It was not only
the first alkaloid to be extracted from opium, but the first ever alkaloid to be isolated
from any plant. Thus he became the first person to isolate the active ingredient
associated with a medicinal plant or herb.
1783-1855: Francois Magendie (French Physiologist) started animal experimentation. He
studied the action of nux vomica (a strychnine-containing plant drug) on dogs, and
showed that the spinal cord was the site of its convulsant action.
1787-1853: M.J.B. Orfila: He contributed to forensic toxicology. In his time the primary
type of poison in use was arsenic, but there were no reliable ways of testing for its
presence. Orfila created new techniques and refined existing techniques in his first
treatise, Traité des poisons, greatly enhancing their accuracy.
1818: Anaesthetic effect of ether was discovered by C. W. Long.
1847: Chloroform anaesthesia was introduced by James Young Simpson.
1853: Alexander Wood discovered hypodermic syringe.
1813-1878: Claude Bernard (French Physiologist) used blind animal experiments to ensure
the objectivity of scientific observations. He was the first to define the term milieu
interieur (now known as homeostasis), also studied functions of the pancreas gland,
glycogenic function of the liver and existence of vaso-motor nerves. He discovered
that the arrow poison curare acts at the neuromuscular junction to interrupt the
stimulation of muscle by nerve impulses.
1820-1879: Rudolf Buchheim (German Pharmacologist) established first pharmacological institute/laboratory at University of Dorpat. Buchheim is remembered for his pioneer work in experimental pharmacology. He was instrumental in turning pharmacology from an empirical study of medicine into an exact science. He introduced the bioassay to pharmacology, and created a methodology for determining the quantative and medical aspects of chemical substances.
1838-1921: Oswald Schmiedeberg (German Pharmacologist) studied the pharmacology of
chloroform and chloral hydrate. He showed that muscarine evoked the same effect on
the heart as electrical stimulation of the vagus nerve. He also published a classic
text, Outline of Pharmacology, and in 1885, he introduced urethane as a hypnotic.
1857-1938: John Jacob Abel: His major works include the isolation of epinephrine
(adrenaline) from adrenal gland extracts (1897–1898), isolation of histamine from
pituitary extract (1919), and preparation of pure crystalline insulin (1926). Abel also
co-founded the Journal of Biological Chemistry in 1905 and the Journal of
Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics in 1909.
1872: Chloral Hydrate was the first intravenous anaesthetic used.
1906: Reid Hunt discovered acetylcholine in adrenal extracts in 1906
1854-1915: Paul Ehrlich coined the term chemotherapy and popularized the concept of
a magic bullet. In 1909, he and his student Sahachiro Hata developed Salvarsan
(arsphenamine, an arsenic compound), a treatment effective against syphilis. He
worked on serum immunology also and received the Nobel Prize for Medicine
together with Metchnikoff in 1908.
1932-1935: Gerhard Domagk was a German pathologist and bacteriologist credited with the
discovery of Sulfonamidochrysoidine, the first commercially available antibiotic
(marketed under the brand name Prontosil Dye). In 1939, Domagk received the Nobel
Prize in Medicine for this discovery, the first drug effective against bacterial
infections.
1928-1945: Sir Alexander Fleming (Scottish Pharmacologist) His best-known discoveries
are the discovery of the enzyme lysozyme in 1923 and the antibiotic
substance penicillin from the mold Penicillium notatum in 1928, for which he shared
the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1945 with Howard Florey and Ernst
Chain.
1944: American microbiologist Selman Abraham Waksman and Albert Schatz isolated
streptomycin and showed its usefulness as an antibiotic. Waksman coined the
term antibiotics. Waksman was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1952 for "for his discovery
of streptomycin, the first antibiotic effective against tuberculosis".
2. Microbiology
1683: Antoni van Leeuwenhoek– a Dutch glassmaker by profession devised an apparatus
by assembling lenses at a particular distance. This enabled him to observe small
organisms, which were not seen till then by man. He observed small living
organisms in body fluids and called them as animalcules meaning small animals.
1865: Robert Hooke identified cells using his compound microscope. His findings were
responsible for the theory that all living things are composed of cells.
1735: Carl Linneus developed the system of binomial naming of living organisms.
1822-95: Louis Pasteur – No other person has contributed so significantly than Louis
Pasteur for the subject than any other in earlier days. He has contributed significantly
to the various aspects of the subject
He has studied the fermentation process in wine manufacture and identified
certain substances which are formed only by the living organisms and laid down
certain guidelines for clean production of wine which saved the French wine
industry in those days. Hence he is also called saviour of French wine industry.
• He also developed technique for laboratory cultivation of bacteria.
• His accidental finding on loss of virulence by Pasteurella multocida, causing
fowl cholera and systematic work on Bacillus anthracis causing anthrax and
rabies virus paved the way for control of infectious diseases by a process called
vaccination.
• He evolved the practice of heating to 120oC under pressure for sterilisation,
which even killed spores.
1827-1912: Joseph Lister gave concept of Antisepsis (Antiseptic surgery). He developed
anti-septic wound dressing procedure, which saved the lives of persons with,
suspected wound contamination.
1876: John Tyndall: Established a sterilisation procedure called Tyndallisation in which the
fluids were heated at periodical time intervals. This method was proved effective in
killing vegetative organisms and spores also.
1843-1910: Robert Koch – A German physician who moved from the field of medicine to
microbiology and has contributed significantly. His notable achievements were the
two important concepts called Koch’s Postulates (which deal with the establishment of aetiology of infectious diseases) and Koch’s Phenomenon (which gave firm basis for
cell mediated immune response).
• He also established the procedure for preparation, fixation and staining of smears
for bacterial identification by aniline dyes.
• He also developed nutrient gelatin and nutrient agar for artificial cultivation of
bacteria.
• He identified bacteria causing tuberculosis (Mycobacteium) and cholera (Vibrio)
• His visit to IVRI at Mukteshwar (1897) is note worthy to remember.
1874: Hansen – Identified the bacteria causing leprosy in man.
1882: Hess developed agar for the cultivation of bacteria.
1884: Christian Gram – Grouped bacteria into two groups based on a staining procedure
called Grams staining.
1887: Petri developed petri-dish that is still widely used in the cultivation of bacteria.
1884: Loeffler – Identified the bacteria causing diphtheria.
1857-1914: Golden Age of Microbiology: during this period numbers of important
discoveries were made. The two noted scientists during this period were Louis
Pasteur and Robert Koch.
3. Vaccine Development in India
1899: Development of antirinderpest serum.
1902: Anti-anthrax serum for cattle 1905: Haemorrhagic septicaemia serum.
1906-08: Development of black quarter vaccine.
1908-11: Treatment of surra (T.evansi infection) in horses and camels.
1908: Development of polyvalent HS vaccine.
1927: Development of goat tissue vaccine (GTV) against Rinderpest.
1940: Development of vaccine (R2B) against Ranikhet disease of poultry \ Sustained R&D
1946-52: Development and updating FMD vaccines including crystal violet tongue
epithelium.
1951: Development of anthrax spore vaccine.
1960-65: Control and eradication of African horse sickness through appropriate diagnostics,
vaccine and control strategies.
1964-65: Goat kidney cell culture for rinderpest; calf kidney tissue culture rinderpest
(TCRP) vaccine (helped in eradication of rinderpest).
1968-70: Saponin and oil adjuvant development.
1971-78: BHK21 monolayer and cell suspension vaccines.
1973: Development of an irradiated sheep lung worm vaccine.
1976-79: Standardization of fermenter technology for large scale production of FMD
vaccine in BHK21 (clone 13) cells in suspension.
1979: Development of Theileria schizont vaccine for bovine theileriosis.
1986-87: Development of inactivated goat pox vaccine.
1999: Development of IBD vaccine.
2000: Development of a CCPP vaccine for goats and sheep and an inactivated oil emulsified
vaccine against IBHHPS.
2001: Development of a thermo resistant IBD vaccine for gumboro disease of poultry and
thermoresistant Vero cellbased TCRP vaccine.
2001-2003: Development of live attenuated PPR vaccine.
2003-2005: Live attenuated (LA) goatpox vaccine.
2004-2008: Live attenuated (LA) PPR vaccine, LA goatpox vaccine, LA PPR+LA goatpox
combined vaccine, high passage LA goatpox, new orf vaccine (Indian strain), LA
buffalopox vaccine, LA classical swine fever vaccine, LA PPR+Vero cell based
sheeppox (RF strain) double combined vaccine, etc.
Important Discovery/Inventions/Theories:
1983-1985: Dr. Kary Banks Mullis invented PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction). He
received a Nobel Prize in chemistry in 1993.
Pioneers Scientists/ Veterinarians
Father of Medicine: Hippocrates
Father of Veterinary Medicine: Renatius Vegatius
Father of Experimental Medicine: Claude Bernard
Father of Veterinary Anaesthesia: Leslie Hall
Father of Veterinary Radiology: Richard Eberlein
Father of Immunology: Edward Jenner
Father of Microbiology: Louis Pasteur
Father of Bacteriology: Robert Koch
Father of Cellular and Modern Pathology: Rudolf Virchow
Father of Pathological anatomy: Antanio Benivieni
Father of Pharmacology/ American: John Jacob Abel
Pharmacology
Father of Modern Pharmacology: Oswald Schmiedeberg
Father of Chemotherapy: Paul Ehrlich
Father of Toxicology: Mathieu Joseph Bonaventure Orfila
Father of Indian Pharmacology: Col. Ram Nath Chopra
Father of Nutrition: Antoine Lavoisier
Father of Genetics: Gregor Johann Mendel
Important days/ dates
Feb 4: World Cancer Day
Feb 28: National Science Day (India)
Mar 16: National Vaccination Day
Mar 21: World Forestry Day
Mar 23: World Meteorological Day
Mar 24: World TB Day
April 7: World Health Day
April 22: World Earth Day
April 25: World Malaria Day
May 8: International Red Cross Day (b’day of founder Jean Henry Dunant)
May 31: World No Tobacco Day
June 5: World Environment Day
June 14: World Blood Donor day
July 1: Doctor's Day
July 16: ICAR Foundation Day
July 6: World Zoonoses Day
Sep 16: World Ozone Day
Sep 28: World Rabies Day
Oct 3: World Nature Day
Oct 4: World Animal Day
Oct 5: World Habitat Day
Oct 6: World Wildlife Day
Nov 12: National Bird Day (B’day of Dr. Salim Ali)
Dec 1: World AIDS Day
Dec 14: National Energy Conservation Day
World Veterinary Day (WVD) is held annually on the last Saturday of April.
WVD was founded by the World Veterinary Association (WVA) in 2001 to highlight the
work of the veterinary profession around the world in food safety/public health, border
controls and quarantine, clinical practice, animal health, animal welfare, environmental
protection, research and development and wildlife conservation.
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