• Question: throughout medical history who do you think made the biggest contribution?

    Asked by sloth-savior to David, Sarah, Zoe on 20 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Sarah Ashwood

      Sarah Ashwood answered on 20 Nov 2014:

      Hippocrates was the first to suggest that illness and disease was the result of physical problems with the body rather than a result of “angering the gods” as was believed in Ancient Greece. This belief was incredibly controversial at the time and it is for this reason that Hippocrates is thought of as the father of modern medicine.

    • Photo: David Foley

      David Foley answered on 20 Nov 2014:

      Paul Ehrlich is often referred to as the father of medicinal chemistry. He was the first to apply the scientific method to the field of drug discovery, and was the first to truly “invent” a drug by design and not by accident or from nature.

      He also termed the phrase “magic bullet” for a hypothetically perfect drug with no side effects. Scientists since then have been inspired to find such a magic bullet, we are not there yet.

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