This timeline presents some important medical breakthroughs and inventions from the beginning of time until the 18th century, and also other important world events occurring at the time. The green text indicates a link to a short explanatory notes.

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2830BC Earliest known record of the use of a crutch 2750BC First evidence of dental surgical operation 2500BC Earliest evidence of dental prosthesis 2200BC Date of oldest existing document written on papyrus
1500BC The Papyrus Ebers of Ancient Egyptians had a number of remedies for polyuria 1400BC Oldest record of writing in China, on bones
1000BC Blood-letting was encouraged, to restore chemical balance in the body The father of Indian medicine, Susruta, diagnosed diabetes mellitus 800BC Physicians in ancient India were utilizing skin grafts for reconstructive work 775BC Greeks developed phonetic alphabets, written from left to right 530BC A library was built in Greece 500BC Earliest practice of dental prosthesis Hippocrates and dentistry Chinese scholars write on bamboo with reeds dipped in pigment Sweetness of urine was regarded as confirmation of diabetes (ancient Greek) 490BC Egypt as home of medical specialists 450BC Roman Laws of the Twelve Tables 400BC The Etruscans and dentistry 384BC Aristotle and dentistry 350BC Evidence of massage therapy 330BC Corpus Hippocrates was written 300BC First known dentist, Hesi-Re The catheter was invented 200BC Books written on parchment and vellum 100BC Public health and sanitation Hegetor described anatomical relations of the hip joint Archigenes treated hearing disorders The term caesarean is coined 25BC The Romans and dentistry
30 Celsus wrote De Medicina 50 Evidence of midwifery 105 T'sai Lun invented paper 130 Galen the physician and anatomist Soranus wrote a textbook of obstetrics 300 In Rome, Antyllus practiced subcutaneous tenotomy 350 In Egypt, parchment book of Psalms bound in wood covers 450 Gynaecological instruments
600 Books printed in China 875 Amazed travelers to China see toilet paper
1000 Arab scientists, such as Abu Ali al-Hassan Ibn Al-Haytham studied lenses, reflaction, refraction and dispersion of light 1013 Albucasis and dentistry
1100 Angkor Wat was built Medieval orthopaedics
c. 1200 Eyeglasses were invented in Northern Italy, sold as a very expensive luxury 1206 Genghis Khan began creation of largest land empire in history 1215 Magna Carta signed 1271 Marco Polo's travels to Asia began
1300 Renaissance began in Italy 1347 Bubonic plague (Black Death) spreaded in Europe 1386 Chirurgia Magna was written
1438 Incan Empire formed in Peru 1451 Johnannes Gutenberg uses a press to print an old German poem 1452 Leonardo da Vinci and dentistry 1455 Gutenberg's movable-type printing press produced the 42-line Bible 1460 Earliest English medical manuscript, Guy de Chauliac's Surgery 1468 Barbers in England obtained charter from King Edward IV 1492 Columbus reached the New World 1498 Modern toothbrush invented by the Chinese
1500 Vesalius the anatomist Eustachius and dentistry Leonardo da Vinci and Andreas Vesalius secretly dissect the human heart First written record of successful caesarean section 1506 Earliest printed illustration of caesarean section 1510 Ambroise Pare the barber-surgeon was born 1513 Eucharius Roslin recommended obstetrical chairs 1522 Magellan's expedition circumnavigated the globe 1543 Copernicus postulated a heliocentric universe 1544 Raynalde published first book on obstetrics in English 1554 Rueff published De conceptu generationis hominis 1565 The pencil was invented 1582 Pope Gregory XIII reformed the calendar 1589 Porta published Natural Magick and also added a lens to the pinhole camera and thereby invented the modern camera 1590 Jans and Zacharias Janssen invented the compound microscope 1597 Tagliacozzi published De Curtorum Chirurgia per Insitionem
1600 Hans Lippershey made first telescope after two children playing in his shop put two lenses in front of each other Casserius published De Vocis Auditusque 1604 Kepler published Ad Vitellionem Paralipomena, which explains the eye optics 1609 Galileo made first astronomical observations with a telescope (30-times magnification) 1612 Medical thermometer devised by Italian physician Sanctorius 1621 Snell's law developed 1628 William Harvey, an English Physician, first described blood circulation in Exercitatio Anatomica de Motu Cordis 1642 First adding machine invented by Blaise Pascal 1650 Obstetric forceps were introduced 1658 Nicholas Andry was born 1660 Schneider published De Catarrhis 1664 Newton's theory of universal gravitation 1666 Newton observed spectrum obtained from a prism and published 'Principia' 1670 Intravenous injection and infusion began 1673 Leeuwenhoek invented microscope 1675 Roemer measures the speed of light 1678 Huygens proposed wave theory of light 1681 Mariotte discovered the blind spot 1684 Leibniz's calculus published Leeuwenhoek noticed structures in retina now known to be the rods and cones Briggs described night blindness 1697 William Smellie was born