Over the centuries there have been many people who have made a significant contribution to the development of medicine and medicinal knowledge. Here are just a few of them.

The first of these is Hippocrates, who is referred to as the father of modern medicine. He separated medicine from religion. He promoted the idea of rest being important for treatment and cleaning wounds. He studied the human body carefully and looked at the causes of illnesses, taking a more holistic view than had been tried previously.

Avincenna (Ibn Sian) was a Persian thinker who helped to develop a range of knowledge, in the medical field as well as philosophy and maths. He wrote a medical textbook consisted of five volumes and that remained in use for centuries.

Moving forwards to more modern times, Edward Jenner was born in 1749. He was English and worked mainly on immunology. He created the concept of the vaccine and worked on those used against diseases such as smallpox. His work has led to the eradication of some dangerous illnesses and gave the modern world the knowledge and the ability to protect humans against illnesses such as flu.