1939 MÜLLER, Franz Hermann
Tabakmissbrauch und Lungencarcinom.
In the first case-control epidemiological study of the effects of tobacco Müller recorded a statistically significant correlation between cigarette smoking and lung cancer. See Alfredo Morabia, "Quality, originality, …
GMN 3213 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4354
1939 GILBERT, René
Radiotherapy in Hodgkin’s disease (malignant granulomatosis). Anatomic and clinical foundations; governing principles; results.
Gilbert was among the first to achieve durable responses to radiotherapy in Hodgkin’s disease.
GMN 3787.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4696
1940 KERST, Donald William (1911 – 1993)
Acceleration of electrons by magnetic induction.
Betatron. Continued as Kerst, "The acceleration of elecrons by magnetic induction," Phys. Rev., 60 (1941) 47-52. Digital facsimile of the 1941 paper at this link.
GMN 2010.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3348
1940 LAWRENCE, John Hundale (1904 – 1991)
Nuclear physics and therapy: preliminary report on a new method for the treatment of leukemia and polycythemia.
Radio-phosphorus in treatment of leukemia.
GMN 3099 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3795
1941 HUGGINS, Charles Brenton (1901 – 1997); HODGES, Clarence Vernard (1914 – 2001)
Studies on prostatic cancer. I. The effect of castration, of estrogen, and of androgen injection on serum phosphatases in metastatic carcinoma of the prostate.
In 1966 Huggins was awarded the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine for discovering in 1941 "for his discoveries concerning hormonal treatment of prostatic cancer."
GMN 4276 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5291
1941 PAPANICOLAOU, George Nicholas (1883 – 1962); TRAUT, Herbert Frederick (1894 – 1963)
The diagnostic value of vaginal smears in carcinoma of the uterus.
The first cytopathology test, smear diagnosis of carcinoma of the cervix: the "Pap" test. Papanicolaou first reported in 1928 that he could recognize cancer cells (Proc. Third Race Betterment Conf., p. 528) but the im…
GMN 6135 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/7663
1942 HERTZ, Saul (1905 – 1950); ROBERTS, A
Application of radioactive iodine in therapy of Graves’s disease.
GMN 3853 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4889
1943 PAPANICOLAOU, George Nicholas (1883 – 1962); TRAUT, Herbert Frederick (1894 – 1963)
Diagnosis of uterine cancer by the vaginal smear.
"In 1943, after a three-year period of concentrated collaborative experience with the vaginal smear for the diagnosis of gynecologic cancer, Papanicolaou and Traut published their widely heralded monograph, Diagnosis …
GMN 13597 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15876
1944 LEUCHTENBERGER, Cecile (1906 – ); LEUCHTENBERGER, Rudolf; ET AL
“Folic acid” a tumor growth inhibitor.
Inhibition of tumor growth by a folic acid concentrate. With R. Lewisohn, D. Laszlo. These workers later (Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. N. Y., 1944, 56, 144-45) obtained similar results with xanthopterin.
GMN 2659.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3352
1944 HADDOW, Sir Alexander (1907 – 1976); ET AL
Influence of synthetic oestrogens upon advanced malignant disease.
Administration of synthetic estrogens in advanced mammary cancer caused regression of tumors. With J. M. Watkinson, E. Paterson, and P. C. Koller.
GMN 2659.3 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3355
1945 MCMILLAN, Edwin Mattison (1907 – 1991)
The synchrotron: a proposed high energy particle accelerator.
In 1951 McMillan shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry with Glenn Theodore Seaborg "for their discoveries in the chemistry of the transuranium elements."
GMN 2659.4 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3358
1945 ROTH, Grace M. (1894 – 1982); KVALE, Walter Frederick (1907 – 1970)
A tentative test for pheochromocytoma.
The Roth–Kvale histamine test for the diagnosis of pheochromocytoma.
GMN 3869 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4921
1945 HUGGINS, Charles Brenton (1901 – 1997); SCOTT, William Wallace (1913 – 2000)
Bilateral adrenalectomy in prostatic cancer; clinical features and urinary excretion of 17-ketosteroids and estrogen.
Adrenalectomy for carcinoma of the prostate.
GMN 4276.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5295
1946 ALVAREZ, Luis Walter (1911 – 1988)
The design of a proton linear accelerator.
Linear ion accelerator. In 1968 Alvarez received the Nobel Prize in Physics "for his decisive contributions to elementary particle physics, in particular the discovery of a large number of resonance states, made possi…
GMN 2659.5 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3361
1946 PATERSON, Edith (1900 – 1995); ET AL
Leukaemia treated with urethane compared with deep x-ray therapy.
Urethane in treatment of leukemia. With A. Haddow, I. Ap Thomas, and J. M. Watkinson.
GMN 3106 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3811
1946 GILMAN, Alfred Zack (1908 – 1984); PHILLIPS, Frederick Stanley (1916 – )
The biological actions and therapeutic applications of the ß-chloroethyl amines and sulfides.
Introduction of nitrogen mustard in treatment of Hodgkin’s disease
GMN 3788 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4698
1946 SEIDLIN, Samuel M. (1895 – 1955); MARINELLI, Leonidas D. (1906 – 1974); OSHRY, Eleanor
Radioactive iodine therapy: Effect on functioning metastases of adenocarcinoma of the thyroid.
Seidlin and Marinelli described the first successful treatment of a patient with thyroid cancer metastases using radioiodine (I-131). This paper demonstrated the potential of nuclear medicine as a medical specialty.
GMN 9338 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/11520
1946 GOODMAN, Louis Sanford (1906 – 2000); GILMAN, Alfred Zack (1908 – 1984); WINTROBE, Maxwell Myer (1901 – 1986); DAMESHEK, William (1900 – 1969)
Nitrogen mustard therapy. Use of methyl-bis(beta-chloroethyl)amine hydrochloride and tris(beta-chloroethyl)amine hydrochloride for Hodgkin's disease, lymphosarcoma, leukemia and certain allied and miscellaneous disorders.
Widely considered the first uses of chemotherapy for the treatment of malignant diseases.
GMN 10133 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/12322
1947 BEARD, Howard Horace (1894 – ); ET AL
Effect of intraperitoneal injection of malignant urine extracts in normal and hypophysectomized rats.
Test for diagnosis of cancer. With B. Halperin and S. H. Libert.
GMN 2660 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3367
1948 FARBER, Sidney (1903 – 1973)
Temporary remissions in acute leukemia in children produced by folic acid antagonist 4-amethopteroylglutamic acid (aminopterin).
With L. K. Diamond, R. D. Mercer, R. F. Sylvester, and V. A. Wolff.
GMN 2660.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3370
1948 DONNER FOUNDATION
Index to the literature of experimental cancer research 1900-1935.
Divided into author and subject sections.
GMN 2662.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3451
1948 SPITZ, Sophie (1910 – 1956)
Melanomas of childhood.
Spitz first defined the histologic criteria for the diagnosis of juvenile melanoma.
GMN 4154.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/5874
1950 CASSEN, Benedict (1902 – 1972); ET AL
A sensitive directional gamma-ray detector.
Directional scintillation detector probe. Cassen assembled the first automated scanning system, comprised of a motor driven scintillation detector coupled to a relay printer. The scanner was initially used to image th…
GMN 2660.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3372
1950 GRAHAM, Evarts Ambrose (1883 – 1957); WYNDER, Ernst Ludwig (1922 – 1999)
Tobacco smoking as a possible etiologic factor in bronchogenic carcinoma: A study of 684 proved cases.
A case-control study proving an association between heavy prolonged cigarette smoking and bronchogenic carcinoma. See also the following paper on pp. 336-38. Reprinted in J. Amer. med. Assoc. 1985, 253, 2986-97.
GMN 3215.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4362
1950 DOLL, Sir William Richard Shaboe (1912 – 2005); HILL, Sir Austin Bradford (1897 – 1999)
Smoking and carcinoma of the lung. Preliminary report.
A study of 1,465 cases of lung cancer and 1,465 matched controls, which confirmed and extended the studies of Wynder and Graham, and others. See also later papers by the same authors in Brit. med. J., 1952, 2,1271-86;…
GMN 3215.2 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4373
1950 RHOADS, Cornelius Packard (1898 – 1959); ET AL
Triethylene melamine in the treatment of Hodgkin’s disease and allied neoplasms
With D. A. Karnofsky, J. H. Burchenal, and L. F. Craver.
GMN 3788.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4699
1951 BERGMANN, Werner; FEENEY, Robert J. (1925 – 2018)
Contributions to the study of marine products. XXXII. The nucleosides of sponges.
Cytosine arabinoside, a pyramidine antagonist, used in acute myeloblastic anemia.
GMN 2660.3 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3377
1952 FOLLEY, J. H.; BORGES, T.; YAMASAKI, T.
Incidence of leukemia in survivors of the atom bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan.
Leukemia was the first cancer to be linked with radiation exposure in atomic bomb survivors.
GMN 7764 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9936
1952 GEY, George Otto (1899 – 1970); COFFMAN, Ward D.; KUBICEK, Mary T.; LACKS, Henrietta (1920 – 1951)
Tissue culture studies of the proliferative capacity of cervical carcinoma and normal epithelium.
A cell biologist at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Gey propagated the HeLa cell line from Henrietta Lacks' cervical tumor. This cell line, which maintained a continuous growth phase, was the first immortal human cell line to…
GMN 14100 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/16411
1953 EVERETT, James Lionel
Aryl-2-halogenoalkylamines. Part XII. Some carboxylic derivatives of NN-Di 2-chloroethylaniline.
Chlorambucil (a nitrogen mustard) used in the chemotherapy of cancer. With J. R. Roberts and W. J. C. Ross.
GMN 2660.4 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3380
1953 FARBER, Sidney (1903 – 1973); ET AL
Clinical studies on the carcinolytic action of triethylenephosphoramide.
TEPA. With five co-authors.
GMN 2660.5 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3381
1953 GRAY, Louis Harold (1905 – 1965); ET AL
The concentration of oxygen dissolved in tissues at the time of irradiation as a factor in radiotherapy.
The sensitivity of tumour cells to x rays shown to be much enhanced when irradiated in a well-oxygenated medium. With A. D. Conger, M. Ebert, S. Hornsey, and O. C. A. Scott.
GMN 2660.6 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3384
1953 BURCHENAL, Joseph Holland (1912 – 2006); ET AL
Clinical evaluation of a new antimetabolite, 6-mercaptopurine, in treatment of leukemia and allied diseases.
Clinical introduction of 6-mercaptopurine in treatment of acute leukemia and chronic myelocytic leukemia. With nine co-authors.
GMN 3108.3 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3826
1953 SHAY, Harry (1898 – ); ET AL
Treatment of leukemia with triethylenethiophosphoramide (Thio-TEPA); preliminary results in experimental and clinical leukemia.
With C. Zarafonetis, N. Smith, I. Woldow and D. C. H. Sun.
GMN 3108.5 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3830
1953 LUFT, Rolf (1914 – 2007); OLIVECRONA, Herbert (1891 – 1980)
Experience with hypophysectomy in man.
Demonstration of the beneficial effect of hypophysectomy in cancer of the breast and of the testis.
GMN 3908.1 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4996
1954 BERGEL, Franz (1900 – 1987); STOCK, J. A.
Cytoactive amino-acid and peptide derivatives. I. Substituted phenylalanines.
Melphalan (a nitrogen mustard) later used in the chemotherapy of cancer.
GMN 2660.7 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3387
1955 FARBER, Sidney (1903 – 1973)
Carcinolytic action of antibiotics: puromycin and actinomycin.
GMN 2660.8 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3389
1955 GALTON, David Abraham Goiten (1922 – 2007)
Clinical trials of p-(DI-2-chloroethylamino)-phenylbutyric acid (CB 1348) in malignant lymphoma.
Clinical use of chlorambucil for chronic lymphatic leukemia. With L. G. Israels, J. D. N. Nabarro, and M. Till.
GMN 3108.6 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3831
1956 HATA, Toju (1908 – 2004); ET AL
Mitomycin, a new antibiotic from streptomyces.
Isolation of mitomycin C, effective in Hodgkin’s disease and lymphoma. With six co-authors.
GMN 1947.3 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/2817
1956 STEWART, Alice Mary (1906 – 2002); ET AL
Preliminary communication: Malignant disease in childhood and diagnostic irradiation in-utero.
Stewart was one of the earliest to study the effect of prenatal X-rays, later replaced by ultrasound. She found that the children of mothers who received these X-rays were almost twice as likely to develop leukemia or…
GMN 7782 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/9954
1957 HEIDELBERGER, Charles (1920 – 1983); ET AL
Fluorinated pyrimidines, a new class of tumour-inhibitory compounds.
Synthesis of 5-fluorouracil. With eight co-authors.
GMN 2660.9 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3392
1957 STEWART, Sarah Elizabeth (1905 – 1976); ET AL
The induction of neoplasms with a substance released from mouse tumors by tissue culture.
Isolation of polymavirus (papovavirus). With B. E. Eddy, A. M. Gochenour, N. G. Borgese, and G E. Grubbs.
GMN 2660.10 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3394
1957 ISAACS, Alick (1921 – 1967); LINDENMANN, Jean (1924 – 2015)
Virus interference. I. The interferon.
Discovery of interferon type I, a protein that interferes with viral replication. "While working together at the NIMR, Lindenmann and Isaacs noticed that if they killed viruses using heat and applied the dead viruses …
GMN 2578.22 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/4236
1957 THOMAS, Edward Donnall (1920 – 2012); LOCHTE, Harry L. Jr.; LU, Wan Ching; ET AL
Intravenous infusion of bone marrow in patients receiving radiation and chemotherapy.
Thomas and colleagues reported the first bone marrow transplants. They described the treatment of six patients with cancers and/leukemia and one patient with multiple myeloma. Three of the patients died, two responded…
GMN 13594 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15873
1958 ARNOLD, Herbert; ET AL
Neuartige Krebs-Chemotherapeutica aus der Gruppe der zyklischen N-Lost-Phosphamidester.
Cyclophosphamide. With F. Bourseaux and N. Brock.
GMN 2660.11 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3395
1958 –1959 BURKITT, Denis Parsons (1911 – 1993)
A sarcoma involving the jaws in African children.
Burkitt’s lymphoma (African lymphoma), first described in detail by Sir Albert Cook, a medical missionary, but not published by him.
GMN 2660.12 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3397
1959 MATHÉ, Georges (1922 – 2010); JAMMET, H.; PENDIC, B.; ET AL
Transfusions et greffes de moelle osseuse homologue chez des humains irradiés a haute dos accidentellement.
Order of authorship in the original publication: Mathé, Jammet, Pendic et al. Mathé performed the first bone marrow graft between unrelated donors and hosts in order to save six Yugoslavian nuclear researchers who had…
GMN 13334 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/15602
1960 VOGT, Marguerite (1913 – 2007); DULBECCO, Renato (1914 – 2012)
Virus-cell interaction with a tumour-producing virus.
Polyomavirus (papovavirus) shown to be capable of transforming cells in culture. Full text from PubMedCentral at this link.
GMN 2660.13 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3399
1963 BROOME, John Denis
Evidence that the L-asparaginase of guinea pig serum is responsible for its antilymphoma effects.
GMN 2660.14 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3400
1963 FOWLER, J. F.; ET AL
Pre-therapeutic experiments with the fast neutron beam from the Medical Research Council cyclotron. A symposium.
GMN 2660.15 · https://historyofmedicine.com/id/3403
