Medicine's 10 Greatest Discoveries

by Meyer Friedman, Gerald W. Friedland

In 1675, Antony van Leeuwenhoek, an unlearned haberdasher from Delft, placed a drop of rainwater under his microscope and detected thousands of tiny animals in it. Leeuwenhoek proceeded to examine the microscopic activity of his spittle, teeth plaque, and feces, and as the result of his findings the field of bacteriology was born. Some two hundred years later, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Wurzburg, invited his wife to his laboratory, asked her to place her hand on an unexposed photographic plate, turned on an electric current, and showed this terrified woman a picture of the bones of her hand. And so came the discovery of the X-ray.

This absorbing book is the first to describe these and eight other monumental medical discoveries throughout history, bringing to life the scientific pioneers responsible for them and the excitement, frustrations, and jealousies that surrounded the final achievements. Two distinguished physicians, Meyer Friedman and Gerald W. Friedland, have drawn on their many years of experience as well as on that of world-renowned antiquarian book dealers, physician collectors of old and new medical publications, and medical school professors to single out these medical breakthroughs from thousands of candidates, and, in several cases, to provide information never before available. Their engrossing stories of the ten most significant discoveries will be read with enjoyment by anyone fascinated by the mysteries of medicine.

Genres: Medicine, History, Science, Nonfiction, Biography, History Of Medicine

287 pages, Paperback

First published November 10, 1998

Reviews

[Suhdorable · Rating 2 out of 5]

While the contents of the book are very interesting, I hate the authors attitude. They add some random, weird comments, which quite frankly were annoying and unnecessary. The book would improve greatly by having a co-author that was a writer (or maybe just a ghostwriter).
But overall, it was okay. I think it can make a good gift for someone interested in such topic

[Oliwia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very neetly written, simple to understand and interesting discoveries chosen though the thing that bothered me the most were the weird authors' comments; presumptions about what the scientists must have felt in their opinion.

[Min · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another of my books I had to read for a research project. Though I was concentrating on only one individual from this book (Edward Jenner) I found myself reading about ALL of the amazing people in this book.

We take so much for granted in this modern world of medicine. It is amazing to read about people who were so inquisitive to have discovered the very things that are the foundation of today's medicine.

I would recommend this book to anyone who is curious about the history of medicine, or who, in general, tend to like non-fiction or bio's.

[Pam Porter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderfully well-researched medical history. The 10 discoveries they chose to include were excellent examples of developments that made modern medicine possible. The authors include personal connections where appropriate, which I found very interesting, and enough description of each scientist and their situation to give you a good feel for how the discovery actually came about.

[Kelli · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is nearly thirty years old, but as it's all about medical discoveries throughout history (the most recent in the book because the discovery of the structure of DNA in the 1950s), it's not really that outdated. I like that the authors painted as much of a personal picture of each of the personalities involved as possible, and I learned a lot of things I hadn't known. They even directly spoke to Wilkins and some other people involved in discovering the structure of DNA, since many of them were still alive when this book was written. I found that interesting.

What I did find kind of weird was the authors' own personal comments on what the people they were writing about might have been thinking and feeling at the time, or what they might think if they were still alive and could see how their discoveries had shaped medicine. That kind of thing is always a fun thought experiment and I do it myself sometimes, but having something like that written there in the book seemed awkward to me. Other than the few people they could directly talk to, like Maurice Wilkins, who could tell them exactly what they thought, it just seemed presumptuous. The last chapter is nothing but this, so it could probably be skipped without missing anything important.

[隻眼簽到 · Rating 3 out of 5]

怪才、偶然與醫學大發現：改變歷史的十項醫學成就。傑若德‧弗萊德蘭、梅爾‧費德曼著。
最偉大的十項醫學成就(發現)是什麼？作者認為是：人體解剖學、血液循環論、細菌、牛痘疫苗、手術麻醉、X光、組織培養、膽固醇、抗生素、DNA。
即便一個醫學外行，要挑作者的毛病也毫不困難；他們甚至連篩選的準則、向度都沒清楚交代，這在研究方法上首先就欠缺嚴謹。其次，他們把哈維的血液循環論和維薩里的人體解剖學列為「古今中外最偉大的醫學成就」，作者持具的理由是，這兩者開啟了今日的生理學領域。但如眾所皆知，中醫並不依賴這個生理體系。認真的說，這種挑毛病沒多大意思。說到底，大概只是本書的敘述不能引起我的興趣吧？作者認為，這十位偉大醫學的發現者，沒有一位夠得上「天才」，「沒有一個人展現出『無法理解的靈感』」。但他們共同都有「旺盛的好奇心」。是嗎？
其實，好奇是人類天性，沒有若干程度的好奇，我不會看這本書。但更重要的是，要有足夠的天賦與興趣，才能支持人們繼續探索。雖然作者說：「我們讚嘆這十位發現者與生俱來的聰明，但我們並不訝異於這樣的智力，因為我們可以瞭解他們的思考軌跡。事實上，我們相信，假如易地而處，我們也能達到他們的成就。」在我看來，這段話只是後見之明。瞭解前人的思考軌跡，並不代表易時地而處，我們就能有同樣的發現(創見)。脫去現代的知識背景，我們還能存有多少(智力)？
何況，成就也需要偶然或運氣。作者就說，這十大發現中，有四項肯定是運氣或機會促成的。我認為，運氣的成份可能比作者願意承認的更大。以DNA結構的發現來說，看了《雙螺旋》，我一點也不覺得華生聰明，他的發現，在前人的研究基礎上，幾乎只剩試錯法就可以解決了。關鍵只在於誰先試出了正確答案。其中，運氣成份是很大的。
此外，名利也是重要動因。作者說：「這十位發現者的努力都是為了功成名就，倒不是因為貪愛錢財。可惜今天的情形卻不是這樣。」現在的研究者追逐的多半是名利雙收。即便如此，追逐名利也不能不考慮天賦和興趣。以錢來說，雖然人人愛錢，但多數人想的只是「意外之財」，真正努力去精研賺錢術並勇於實踐的人還是不多的。因為這也需要天賦和興趣。

[Aditya · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very rarely is a book well researched, appropriately lengthy and empirical at the same time. This is one of them. Apart from knowing just the right scientists to include in this book, the authors also were very wise in choosing just the right amount of anecdotes and histories. With the exception of the last chapter, most of the stories in this book are rather unheard of and unparalleled when it comes to the fascination quotient. And as important it is for all medical personnel, it is of equivalent importance to anyone who is or hopes to be an innovator in any field of life.

[Piotr Borowski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ta książka to 10 najważniejszych odkryć w medycynie. Te 10 pozycji wybrali autorzy. Można by powiedzieć, że jest to 10 biografii, gdyby nie fakt, że przy wielu odkryciach pracowało kilku naukowców, a więc biografii zawartych w tej książce jest zdecydowanie więcej. Dzięki takiemu przedstawieniu tematu pozycję tą czyta się świetnie. Momentami autorowie posługują się naukowym językiem objaśniając np. odkrycia dotyczące DNA. Jednak większość książki jest strawna nawet dla laika jakim ja jestem. Polecam.

[Derek Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a compelling collection of what the authors deem to be the 10 most important discoveries in medicine. This book does far more than that though, as it details the lives of these famous scientists, portraying them as more than geniuses but three-dimensional humans with faults (huge egos, adulterous behaviors, and even borderline criminal acts). These discoveries, such as anesthesia, antibiotics, DNA, and the like, have transformed the health landscape in profound ways, and this book is an easily accessible and comprehensive account which i highly recommend.

[Krysztyna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great, worth reading book

Świetna, warta przeczytania książka

[Wojtek Konieczny · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10, rozdział o Roentgenie najlepszy?

[Joe · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative, intellectual, great source of valid medical knowledge written by two physicians. Great historical reference for great scientists and what that entails as well as their discoveries.

[Katrina · Rating 1 out of 5]

Informative but bland

[Tyler · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent overview of the history of medicine, and very readable.

[Raquel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesante. Lectura basica, creo que esperaba otra cosa, ...