Biomedical engineering has existed for centuries, perhaps even thousands of years. Researchers said the wear on the bottom surface suggests that it could be the oldest known limb prosthesis.
1895: Wilhelm Roentgen accidentally discovered that a cathode-ray tube could make a sheet of paper coated with barium platinocyanide glow, even when the tube and the paper were in separate rooms, which was the discovery of x-rays.
Major milestones:
Biomedical engineering achievements range from early devices, such as crutches, platform shoes, and wooden teeth to more modern equipment, including pacemakers, heart-lung machine, dialysis machines, diagnostic equipment, imaging technologies of every kind, and artificial organs, medical implants and advanced prosthetics.
1791: Luigi Galvani invented the frog galvanoscope.
1851: Hermann von Helmholtz invented the ophthalmoscope.
1881: Samuel von Basch invented the blood pressure meter (also known as sphygmomanometer).
1895: Conrad Roentgen (Germany) discovered the X-ray using gas discharged tubes.
1896: Henry Becquerel (France) discovered X-rays were emitted from uranium ore.
1901: Roentgen received the Nobel Prize for discovery of X-Rays.
1903: Willem Einthoven invented the Electrocardiogram (ECG).
1921: First formal training in biomedical engineering was started at Oswalt Institute for Physics in Medicine, Frankfurt, Germany.
1927: Invention of the Drinker respirator.
1929: Hans Berger invents the electroencephalogram (EEG).
1930: X-rays were being used to visualize most organ systems using radio-opaque materials, refrigeration, permitted blood banks.
Mid 1930s – early 1940s: Antibiotics, sulfanilamide and pencillin reduced cross-infection in hospitals.
1940: Cardiac catheterization.
1943: The International Bio-Physical Society was formed.
1948: The First conference of Engineering in Medicine & Biology was held in the United States.
1950: Electron microscope.
1950s – early 1960s: Nuclear medicine.
1953: Cardiopulmonary bypass (heart–lung machine).
1970: computer tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
1980: Gamma camera, positron emission tomography (PET) and SPECT.
1997: First Indigenous endovascular coronary stent (Kalam-Raju stent) was developed by the Care Foundation.
By
Bhargav Khatri
Biomedical Engineer,
Gujarat, India
