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1903
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Electrocardiograph invented by
Dutch physiologist Willem Einthoven.
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1913
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X-RAY TUBE
General Electric's William D. Coolidge invents the X-ray tube.
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1916
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Margaret Sanger opens first
birth-control clinic
in New York.
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1925
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FROZEN FOODS
Clarence Birdseye starts his frozen foods company after developing a process for quick-freezing food.
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1928
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PENICILLIN
Scottish physician Alexander Fleming discovers that penicillin fends off staph bacteria.
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1928
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George Papanicolaou invents technique
to test for
cervical cancer.
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1942
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CHEMOTHERAPY
The use of chemotherapy drugs to fight cancer begins.
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1945
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First edition of Dr. Benjamin Spock's Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care published.
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1950s
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PESTICIDES
The desire to improve crop yields leads to the introduction of pesticides.
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1953
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GENETIC ENGINEERING
James Watson and Francis Crick discover the structure of DNA, the double helix.
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1955
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POLIO VACCINE
Jonas Salk's polio vaccine is released.
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1955
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BIRTH CONTROL PILL
Gregory Pincus and John Rock develop the birth-control pill.
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1958
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First heart
pacemaker implanted.
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1962
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Rachel Carson's Silent Spring published.
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1964
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U.S. surgeon
general declares cigarette smoking a health hazard.
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1966
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Medicare health insurance plan for
the elderly begins.
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1967
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Dr. Christiaan N. Barnard performs the first whole heart transplant.
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1970
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Environmental Protection Agency
is created.
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1976
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Genentech, the first company to
synthesize insulin,
is founded.
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1978
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IN VITRO FERTILIZATION
Dr. Patrick C. Steptoe delivers Louise Brown, the first "test-tube" baby.
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1978
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Chlorofluorocarbons banned as
spray propellants.
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1980s
|
MODIFIED CROPS
Biologists succeed at manipulating the genes of plants to produce desired characteristics.
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1980
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World Health Organization announces the worldwide eradication of smallpox has
been achieved.
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1988
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Antidepressant
Prozac introduced.
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1997
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CLONING
Dolly was the greatest achievement in a science that is less than half a century old.
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1998
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Viagra sold to counteract impotence.
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