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Milestones in Neuroscience Research | |
| Some of the best references for the events that document the history of the neurosciences are:
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Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine |
| The following dates and events were gathered from several sources. These events are certainly not all of the important events to take place in neuroscience...just some of the ones that I have selected. | |
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4000 B.C. to 0 A.Dca. 4000 B.C. - Euphoriant effect of poppy plant reported in Sumerian recordsca. 4000 B.C. - Clay tablets from Mesopotamia discuss how to use alcohol to dilute medicine ca. 2700 B.C. - Shen Nung originates acupuncture ca. 1700 B.C. - Edwin Smith surgical papyrus written. First written record about the nervous system ca. 500 B.C. - Alcmaion of Crotona dissects sensory nerves ca. 500 B.C. - Alcmaion of Crotona describes the optic nerve 460-379 B.C. - Hippocrates discusses epilepsy as a disturbance of the brain 460-379 B.C. - Hippocrates states that the brain is involved with sensation and is the seat of intelligence 387 B.C. - Plato teaches at Athens. Believes brain is seat of mental process 335 B.C. - Aristotle writes about sleep; believes heart is seat of mental process 335-280 B.C. - Herophilus (the "Father of Anatomy"); believes ventricles are seat of human intelligence 280 B.C. - Erasistratus of Chios notes divisions of the brain |
 Hippocrates Image courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, Univ. Texas Med. Branch, Galveston |
0 A.D. to 1500177 - Galen lecture "On the Brain"ca. 100 - Marinus describes the tenth cranial nerve ca. 100 - Rufus of Ephesus describes and names the optic chiasm. ca. 1000 - Alhazen compares the eye to a camera-like device 1316 - Mondino de'Luzzi writes the first European anatomy textbook (Anothomia) 1402 - St. Mary of Bethlehem Hospital is used exclusively for the mentally ill 1410 - Institution for the mentally ill established in Valencia, Spain |
Image courtesy of the National Library of Medicine, |
1500 - 16001504 - Leonardo da Vinci produces wax cast of human ventricles1536 - Nicolo Massa describes the cerebrospinal fluid 1538 - Andreas Vesalius publishes Tabulae Anatomicae 1543 - Andreas Vesalius publishes "On the Workings of the Human Body" 1543 - Andreas Vesalius discusses pineal gland and draws the corpus striatum 1550 - Vesalius describes hydrocephalus 1550 - Bartolomeo Eustachio describes the brain origin of the optic nerves 1561 - Gabriele Falloppio publishes "Observationes Anatomicae" and describes some of the cranial nerves. Separate trochlear and abducens nerves identified 1562 - Bartolomeo Eustachio publishes "The Examination of the Organ of Hearing" 1564 - Aranzi coins the term "hippocampus" 1573 - Constanzo Varolio names the pons 1573 - Constanzo Varolio is first to cut brain starting at its base 1573 - Girolamo Mercuriali writes De nervis opticis to describe optic nerve anatomy 1583 - Felix Platter states that the lens only focuses light and that the retina is where images are formed 1586 - A. Piccolomini distinguishes between cortex and white matter 1587 - Giulio Cesare Aranzi describes ventricles and hippocampus. He also demonstrates that the retina has a reversed image 1590 - Zacharias Janssen invents the compound microscope 1596 - Sir Walter Raleigh mentions arrow poison in his book Discovery of the Large, Rich and Beautiful Empire of Guiana |
 Leonardo Da Vinci
Image courtesy of the Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, Univ. Texas Med. Branch, Galveston |
1600 - 17001604 - Johannes Kepler describes inverted retinal image1609 - J. Casserio publishes first description of mammillary bodies 1611 - Lazarus Riverius textbook describing impairments on consciousness published 1621 - Robert Burton publishes The Anatomy of Melancholy about depression 1623 - Benito Daca de Valdes publishes the first book on vision testing and eyeglass-fitting 1641 - Franciscus de la Boe Sylvius describes fissure on the lateral surface of the brain (Sylvian fissure) 1649 - Rene Descartes describes pineal as control center of body and mind 1650 - Franciscus de la Boe Sylvius describes a narrow passage between the third and fourth ventricles (the aqueduct of Sylvius) 1658 - Johann Jakof Wepfer theorizes that a broken brain blood vessel may cause apoplexy (stroke) 1661 - Thomas Willis describes a case of meningitis 1662 - Rene Descartes "De homine" is published (He died in 1650) 1664 - Thomas Willis publishes "Cerebri anatome" (in Latin) 1664 - Thomas Willis describes the eleventh cranial nerve (accessory nerve) 1664 - Gerardus Blasius discovers and names the "arachnoid" 1665 - Robert Hooke details his first microscope 1667 - Robert Hooke publishes "Micrographia" 1668 - l'Abbe Edme Mariotte discovers the blind spot 1670 - William Molins names the trochlear nerve 1673 - Joseph DuVerney uses experimental ablation technique in pigeons 1681 - English edition of Thomas Willis' "Cerebri anatome" was published 1681 - Thomas Willis coins the term Neurology 1684 - Raymond Vieussens publishes "Neurographia Universalis" 1684 - Raymond Vieussens uses boiling oil to harden the brain 1686 - Thomas Sydenham describes a form of chorea in children and young adults 1695 - Humphrey Ridley describes the restiform body 1695 - Humphrey Ridley publishes "The Anatomy of the Brain" 1696 - John Locke writes "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" 1697 - Joseph G. Duverney introduces the term "brachial plexus" |