This timeline presents some important medical breakthroughs and inventions in the 19th century, and also other important world events occurring at the time. The green text indicates a link to a short explanatory notes.

1800 Thomas Young demonstrated wave properties of light by diffraction Charles Babbage invented analytical machine to solve complex mathematical problems Herschel discovered infrared light 1801 J W Ritter discovered ultraviolet light Young discovered astigmation of the eye 1802 Wollasen reported the presence of a bright yellow line in candle light 1804 Lithography was invented in Germany 1805 Serturner extracted the alkaloid compound morphine from opium Antonius Mathysen was born 1806 Individual porcelain teeth with baked-in metal pins, invented by Fonzi John Dalton proposed atomic theory Philip Bozzini invented the 'lichtleiter' 1807 Lewis obtained US patent for machine to mass-produce pills	�
1810 Hahnemann founded homeopathy 1815 Battle of Waterloo crushed Napoleon 1816 Ren� T H La�nnec, a French physician, invented the stethoscope 1818 First successful blood transfusion
1826 Niepce took first photograph 1827 Dr John Peter Mettauer performed the first cleft palate operation 1828 Phillip Physick developed tonsillotome 1829 Plateau discovered stroboscopic movement and invented motion pictures
1832 Snell invented first dental chair 1833 First gelatin capsules produced in France Slavery abolished in British Empire Wheatstone invented the stereoscope 1834 Hugh Thomas was born 1836 Arsenic introduced for the killing of pulps, by Spooner
1840 Charles Goodyear discovered vulcanite rubber 1842 Crawford Long discovered ether anesthetic, but does not publicize it 1843 Emil Dubois-Reymond described an action potential accompanying each muscular contraction 1844 Discovery of nitrous oxide anesthesia by H Wells 1846 Morton used anaesthesia to extract a tooth
1850 J J Foucault measured speed of light in water 1851 Hermann von Helmholtz invented the ophthalmoscope 1853 Pravaz and Wood invented the hypodermic needle Desormeaux introduced the lichtleiter to a patient 1854 Emeline Jones, the first female dentist in USA 1855 Robert Jones was born 1856 Rudolph von Koelliker and Heinrich Muller recorded an action potential 1857 Louis Pasteur discovered that bacteria cause diseases Denuc� invented infant incubator 1858 Rudolf Virchow asserted cells came from other cells Krackowiczer introduced laryngoscopy 1859 Darwin's Origin of the Species published Lenoir built first practical internal-combustion engine G Kirchoff and R W Bunsen said elements have both characteristic absorption and emission spectra
1860 French physiologist, Etienne-Jules Marey (1830-1904), perfected the sphygmomanometer Kirchoff and Bunsen correlate spectral lines to specific elements 1862 Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic radiation developed 1865 Lister introduced antiseptic treatment of wounds 1866 Mendel discovered genes Holmgren discovered the electroretinogram 1867 Cancer recognized as uncontrolled cell division Desormeaux used an open tube to examine the genitourinary tract 1868 Combination of nitrous oxide and oxygen for prolonged anesthesia, by Edmund Andrews First diagnosis of multiple sclerosis J N Lockyer discovered helium in solar spectrum Kussmaul performed the first esophagogastroscopy 1869 Pantaleoni performed the first hysteroscopy
1870 John Tyndall demonstrated that light would follow a curved path, which preceded the development of fiber optics 1872 Gabriel Lippmann invented capillary electrometer 1876 Bell patented the telephone Maximilian Nitze created optical endoscope with built-in electrical light bulb Porro advocated hysterectomy in concurrence with caesareans 1877 Hydraulic dental chair invented by Wilkinson Lord Rayleigh published 'The Theory of Sound', in which the fundamental physics of sound were defined Nitze designed the modern-type endoscope 1878 John Sanderson and Frederick Page recorded electrical current of the heart Kuehne isolated rhodopsin 1879 Edison invented electric light Munk formulated concept of topographic projection of retina onto occipital cortex
1880 Pasteur identified specific disease-causing bacteria Pierre and Jacques Curie discovered the piezoelectric effect Tarnier invented modern infant incubators 1881 George Stoney proposed that electricity is carried by particles Mikulicz and Leiter constructed the first clinical gastroscope Johann Mikulicz (1850-1905) carried out the first clinically useful esophagoscopy Rayleigh invented anomaloscope 1882 Koch isolated the bacterium tubercle bacillus 1883 The first successful centrifuge was built by the Swedish engineer Carl G P de Laval 1884 Keller suggested cocaine hydrochlorate for topical anesthesia 1885 First successful intubation of the larynx Hedin developed hematokrit 1887 Augustus Waller published the first human electrocardiogram 1888 Thomas McMurray was born 1889 Mehring and Minkowski produce diabetes mellitus in dogs by removing the pancreas
1890 W D Miller described microorganism of the human mouth Herman Hollerith designed his punch-card tabulating machine for the U S Census, and later founded the company that became IBM 1891 William Bayliss and Edward Starling showed a triphasic variation of the heart beat 1892 White blood cells identified 1893 New Zealand became first country to grant women the vote 1895 Roentgen discovered the x-ray Lumi�re brothers introduced motion pictures Marconi sent first radio signals Freud founded psychoanalysis 1896 Henri Becquerel accidentally discovered radioactivity that results from the inherent instability of some disintegrating matters Diffre and Lion built metal incubators Stratton experimented with inverted retinal images 1897 Shiga discovered cause of dysentery Cause of malaria discovered 1898 Vaccination against typhoid Hearing aids developed 1899 Hoffman and Dreser introduced aspirin as an analgesic Austin Moore was born Prevost and Batelli stumbled upon the concept of electrical defibrillation on animals