3000 BC to 800 BC	Ancient Egyptian Medicine   Back to top Egyptian writings mention both benign and malignant tumors. Castor oil (made from the seeds of Castor beans), pigs' ears, and other animal parts were among the ingredients in the treatments these texts describe for fighting tumors. One of the earliest known physicians, Imhotep (2600s BC), was an extremely powerful figure in ancient Egypt. He was an advisor to kings and was the architect of some of the earliest and most famous of the pyramids. Later, around 500 BC, Imhotep was worshipped as the god of medicine in both Egypt and Greece. Several Egyptian papyrus scrolls, dating from approximately 1600 BC, are among the oldest of the world's writings about medicine and cures. These scrolls are known by the names of the archaeologists and scholars who first studied them in the late 1800s. The “George Ebers” papyrus describes over 700 recipes for medicines and cures. The “Edwin Smith” papyrus is a guide to ancient surgical procedures and is believed to be a copy of a much earlier text from as early as 3000 BC.	Setmetnanch, an Ancient Egyptian physician.
525 BC to 848 AD	Early Medicine in Greece and Rome   Back to top The doctors Hippocrates and Galen began to revolutionize medical thought by thinking about disease as a natural physical process, rather than one caused by magic and the supernatural. They had a profound influence on the treatment and understanding of disease for almost 1500 years. Hippocrates gave the name karkinos and karkinoma (the ancient Greek words for "crab") to a group of diseases that he studied, including cancers of the breast, uterus, stomach, and skin. The hard center and spiny projections of the tumors Hippocrates observed reminded him of the crustacean. "Cancer" means "crab" or “crayfish” in Latin. Indeed, cancer became a recognized diagnosis in this time period. Although Galen removed some tumors surgically, he generally believed that cancer was best left untreated. Galen "Cancer the Killer" Hippocrates
1110-1478	Middle Ages and a Shift to the East   Back to top When Rome fell, Constantinople emerged as the center of knowledge. Classic Greek and Roman texts, including those of Galen, were translated into Arabic, and influenced physicians in Cairo, Athens, and Alexandria. Disease, including cancer, was stilled viewed in terms of the four Greek bodily fluids—blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile. Cancer was thought to arise from an excess of black bile and was only curable in its earliest stages.
1517-1590	The Renaissance   Back to top The modern world began to emerge with the embrace of new learning, propelled by voyages of discovery and the printing press. Increasingly, physicians and scholars based medicine on direct observations. The writings of Galen, which had dominated medical thinking in the West, were challenged. Ambroise Paré became the era's best-known surgeon. He recommended surgery for cancer only if tumors could be removed completely. Benivieni, Da Vinci, Durer, and Vesalius made enormous strides in the knowledge of human anatomy. Cancer was still believed to be the result of black bile and largely incurable. Even so, physicians prepared a variety of arsenic pastes for its treatment.	Ambroise Paré Andreas Vesalius
1609-1665	Experimental Medicine Begins   Back to top Inventions and discoveries set a new tone for medicine. The microscope, the telescope, and other instruments were invented. William Harvey first described the continuous circulation of the blood, undermining the humoral theory of disease—that is, the conception of disease as imbalances in special fluids within the body. With cancer no longer attributed to black bile, the understanding and treatment of cancer began taking a new path. Robert Hooke described the structure of tissues in plants as "little boxes of cells," helping to develop the idea of the cell as the basic unit of living organisms. This vision of bodies as collections of cells took firm root in the 1800s. Gaspare Aselli discovered the vessels of the lymphatic system, key to the body's ability to fight infection and disease. Lymph abnormalities began to be examined as possible cancer causes. Although surgery was still quite risky given the absence of anesthesia and antiseptics, the famous German surgeon Wilhelm Fabricius Hildanus removed lymph nodes in breast cancer operations, and Johann Scultetus performed total mastectomies.	Hooke's cell drawings. Hildanus performs a mastectomy.
1733-1788	Early Oncology Arrives   Back to top For the first time in history, physicians and scientists performed systematic experiments on cancer, leading to oncology as a medical specialty. Two French scientists—the physician Jean Astruc and the chemist Bernard Peyrilhe—were key to these new investigations. Along with the rise of oncology as the specialized study of cancer, hospitals specializing in cancer treatment were established. Researchers also explored connections between factors in the environment as possible causes of cancer. Cancer in chimney sweeps was studied, as well as the carcinogenic effects of tobacco use. The French physician Claude Gendron's eight years of investigations led him to conclude that cancer arises locally in the body as a hard, growing mass. He believed that it was untreatable with drugs and that tumors should be removed surgically. The Dutch professor Hermann Boerhaave believed that inflammations could result from a cancer tumor.	Jean Astruc Claude Gendron
1800-1892	The Nineteenth Century   Back to top The nineteenth century was marked by many dramatic developments in science and technology. These developments profoundly changed societies and ways of life, including understandings of the world and humankind's place within it. Many of these developments contributed to the growth of cancer research, such as Darwin and evolution, Pasteur and bacteriology, Virchow and cell pathology, Morton and anesthesia, Lister and antisepsis, Röntgen and X-rays, and the Curies and radium. As a result of autopsies performed by Giovanni Margagni and Matthew Baillie, cancers of the breast, stomach, rectum, testes, bladder, pancreas, and esophagus were described in detail. Advances in microscopy allowed scientists to study the differences between normal cells and cancerous cells. Cancer statistics were first collected and analyzed in France and Italy.	Examining an X-ray photograph.        Matthew Baillie
1895-1929	Modern Advances   Back to top Oncology was established as an experimental science with advances in cell research, chemical carcinogens, and chemotherapy. The relatively new field of chemotherapy wad spurred on by the work of chemists like Paul Ehrlich. These pharmaceutical achievers created "wonder drugs," new chemical substances—some natural and some synthetic, capable of treating diseases, including cancer. At the crossroads of nuclear chemistry and oncology, X-rays were used effectively to destroy cancer cells. Many different causes of cancer were investigated. Among these causes were viruses, chemical and physical carcinogens, and abnormal chromosomes. The German zoologist Theodor Boveri advanced the idea that cancer is related to abnormal chromosomes. This theory became much more prominent later in the century. In 1913, the Ladies Home Journal published the first popular article about the warning signs for cancer. Volunteers established the American Society for the Control of Cancer. In 1944, the ASCC became the American Cancer Society.	Cartoon of early 1900s cancer research. Investigating cancer chromosomes.
1930-1950	The National Cancer Institute   Back to top In 1937, Congress passed the National Cancer Institute Act, that authorized annual funding for cancer research. The National Cancer Institute (NCI) was formed in 1939 through the merger of the Office of Cancer Investigations at Harvard University and a pharmacology division at the National Institutes of Health. Research produced by many scientists, including George Hitchings and Gertrude Elion, showed that cancer could be treated with chemical compounds. Cancer chemotherapy joined surgery and radiation as methods of treating cancer. Research on the smoking-cancer link was initiated. Methods for the early diagnosis of cancer were pursued.	Dedication of NCI building. French anti-smoking poster.
1952-1971	Molecular Biology Takes Center Stage   Back to top In 1953, James Watson and Frances Crick unleashed a tidal wave of new discoveries with their model of DNA's structure, discoveries contributing to the creation of a molecular understanding of disease and health. Cancer researchers contributed much of this new information as they continued to search for "magic bullets." DNA's double-helical structure. In 1955, Congress funded a National Chemotherapy program to test compounds that might be effective against cancer. By the late 1970s, at least 45 compounds were known to be effective against 29 different forms of cancer. In the 1960s and 1970s, scientists explored the connection between cancer and viruses. In 1964, the U.S. Surgeon General Luther L. Terry issued the report that linked smoking to lung cancer. The search for chemical carcinogens continued. Howard M. Temin and David Baltimore discovered an enzyme called reverse transcriptase and explained how RNA converts genetic information to DNA, thus making genetic engineering possible.	Luther L. Terry Howard M. Temin David Baltimore
1972-1981	Genetic Engineering and Other Technologies   Back to top Using genetic engineering, researchers identified oncogenes. The first was the src gene in chickens. Human oncogenes and proto-oncogenes were also identified. DNA sequencing allowed scientists to study the action of specific genes in the quest for finding genes that are responsible for cancer. The human immune system was studied with the goal of using the body's own defenses to fight cancer. The link between cancer and viruses led to an AIDS-cancer connection. The HIV virus is first grown in the laboratory in 1984.
1982-1985	New Methods for Studying Cancer   Back to top Transplanting specific cells and genes in animals made possible the transfer of genes in humans. The National Cancer Institute established a program to screen thousands of drugs—both natural and synthetic—for their anticancer properties. Plants such as the mayapple, the rosy periwinkle, and the pacific yew were found to contain compounds that show promise against cancer.
1986-1992	Cancer and Chromosomes   Back to top Researchers show that some genes suppress tumor growth. These suppressor genes were isolated and cloned in humans. Radiation from the sun was shown to produce a change in a tumor suppressor gene in skin cells. Cigarette smoke was shown to produce a similar change in a suppressor gene in lung cells. The U.S. Human Genome project began in 1991. The first gene transfers in humans took place. Using monoclonal antibodies, researchers delivered lethal toxins to a target cancer cell.
1993-1997	Surviving Cancer   Back to top The National Cancer Institute established links between cancer and nutrition, smoking, and other environmental and lifestyle factors in an effort to encourage cancer prevention. The Institute also established aggressive screening programs for cancer. The possibility of a cancer vaccine was investigated.

Your Challenge

  Back to top

1. Select any time period listed on the timeline and research other historical events of that period. Note: Some events are given in the National Cancer Institute publication Closing in on Cancer: Solving a 5000-Year-Old Mystery.

2. Select one scientist from the following list and prepare a report on his work and how your scientist contributed to our understanding of cancer and cancer chemotherapy.
   1. Galen
   2. Paracelsus
   3. Joseph Lister
   4. Rudolf Virchow
   5. Paul Ehrlich
   6. George Hitchings

For more information, at other Web sites...

The Reconstructors — be the drug discoverer in this postapocalyptic sci-fi drug development game that lets you rediscover the secrets of aspirin in a future world that has lost the knowledge of modern medicine, from Rice University.

Ancient Egyptian physician Setmetnanch: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Galen: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

"Cancer the Killer": Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Hippocrates: Courtesy Blocker History of Medicine Collections, Moody Medical Library, The University of Texas Medical Branch.

Ambroise Paré: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Andreas Vesalius: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Hooke's cell drawing: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Hildanus performs a mastectomy: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Jean Astruc: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Claude Genrdon: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Examining an x-ray photograph: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Matthew Baillie: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Cartoon of early 1900s cancer research: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Investigating cancer chromosomes: Courtesy World Health Organization.

Dedication of NCI building: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

French antismoking poster: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Luther L. Terry: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

Howard M. Temin: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.

David Baltimore: Courtesy National Library of Medicine.