1900–1922 · Europe · Medicine
The discovery of blood groups made safer transfusion possible, while insulin transformed the treatment of diabetes and demonstrated the therapeutic power of physiology and biochemistry.
Atlas dossier · World WarsFree device narration · synchronized English captions · transcript available
Why it matters
The discovery of blood groups made safer transfusion possible, while insulin transformed the treatment of diabetes and demonstrated the therapeutic power of physiology and biochemistry.
Karl Landsteiner · Frederick Banting · Charles Best · patients · nurses · laboratory teams
Modern clinical medicine increasingly linked laboratory findings to standardized treatment, hospitals, pharmaceuticals and population health.
Interpretation note
This dossier distinguishes the event’s basic chronology from later arguments about meaning, responsibility and legacy. When comparing religious, national, Indigenous or scholarly interpretations, consult the primary and institutional sources above alongside peer-reviewed historical work.
Elsewhere in the world
1903 · AmericasPowered flightThe Wright brothers achieved sustained, controlled powered flight, beginning a rapid transformation of transport, warfare, migration and global connection.
1896 · AfricaBattle of AdwaEthiopian forces decisively defeated an Italian invasion and preserved state sovereignty.
1911–1949 · AsiaChinese revolutions and divided sovereigntyThe Xinhai Revolution ended Qing imperial rule; republican experiments, warlordism, Japanese invasion and civil war culminated in the People’s Republic on the mainland and ROC government in Taiwan.