HM Historia Medica The history of medicine

Medicine has a history

Explore the History of Medicine

Discover the people, diseases, discoveries, and institutions that shaped medicine—from ancient healing traditions to evidence-based care.

Explore the timeline Browse by topic Guide to exploring the collection
A period-inspired illustration of a Renaissance physician teaching in an anatomy theatre
An anatomy lesson in the age of Vesalius, interpreted.

Key moments in medical history

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c. 1550 BCE Ebers Papyrus Ancient Egypt c. 400 BCE Hippocratic medicine Greece 1543 Vesalius publishes Renaissance anatomy 1796 Smallpox vaccination Edward Jenner 1847 Anaesthesia & antisepsis A new era of surgery 1895 X-rays Seeing inside the body 1921 Insulin A turning point for diabetes

Choose how you want to explore

Chronology By period Ancient, medieval, early modern, and modern medicine. Explore periods Ideas & practice By theme Diseases, treatments, institutions, technologies, and more. Explore themes Lives & legacies By people Doctors, nurses, scientists, patients, and reformers. Explore people Material history By object or discovery Instruments, medicines, technologies, and documents. Explore objects
Old medical books, botanical notes, a magnifying glass, and dried plants on a reading-room table

Featured story

A remedy, instrument, or idea does not move unchanged. Follow the translators, collectors, physicians, patients, and institutions that made knowledge mobile.

12 min read Curated essay
Read How Medical Knowledge Travels
Editorial method

Read our editorial method to learn about our approach to sources and historical research.

People in context

Discovery stories include institutions, patients, disputes, and power.

Clear and human

Complex topics are explained with clarity and historical perspective.

Open and independent

A public history project built for curious readers everywhere.