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Hippocrates

Galen

Vesalius

Pare

Harvey

Jenner

Florence Nightingale

Louis Pasteur

Robert Koch

James Simpson

Joseph Lister

John Snow

Alexander Fleming

Florey and Chain

Key People in Medicine

Hippocrates

Roughly lived from 460BC to 375BC.

Mainly known for the 'Hippocratic Books' that were either written by him or his followers.

Came up with a new type of Greek medicine that concentrated on the patient rather than the illness.

He wanted doctors to observe patients and record the progress of their illness carefully. This method was also adopted by the Egyptians and is now called 'Clinical Observation'.

The Hippocratic Books benefitted from Pythagoras and Alcmaeon of Croton. They believed that an imbalance in the body would be a sign of illness and that the correct treatment would put the body back in balance.

Hippocrates emphasised the careful noting of symptoms. This allowed doctors to see a pattern in development with some disease so they would know what to expect if another patient should get the same disease.

He felt it was important to let the disease follow its natural course and that a clean and calm environment was essential for the patient to get better.

Complete rest was the usual Hippocratic treatment.

Only once doctors understood what the disease was were the allowed to use natural, herbal remedies.

He tried to avoid surgery as it was dangerous (dissection was still banned which meant that there was little knowledge of anatomy). However, sometimes surgery was the only option.

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Hippocrates