PrintIn the summer of 1897, the chemist and pharmacist Felix Hoffmann succeeds in producing acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) in a chemically pure and stable form. Aspirin is born, and with it a pain reliever that is affordable and - unlike its predecessors - well tolerated.
Hoffmann is convinced by the new medicine. The pharmacologist responsible for testing it, Heinrich Dreser, is initially sceptical. Yet, after investigations into its effect and tolerability, the pharmaceutical miracle becomes clear: the researcher has developed a pain-relieving, fever-reducing, anti-inflammatory, and at the same time, well tolerated medication.
Milestones of Medicine - Background information
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Aspirin® production at Bayer. |
In 1899 aspirin is initially dispensed in powder form and offered to pharmacists in glass jars. Very soon after its discovery the medicine becomes a sales hit throughout the world. From 1900 the powder is compressed into tablets - the first to be produced on a large scale. Its name, by the way, is quickly found: take an “a” for acetyl, a “spir” for spiraea ulmaria (a herb also known as meadowsweet, the plant which yields the important ingredient salicylic acid) and an “in”, a common suffix for medications at this time.
For more than 100 years, aspirin has been helping millions of people throughout the world to relieve their ailments. And not only on Earth: when, on the 21 July 1969, Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon, aspirin is included in the medical kit on board Apollo 11.
For more than 100 years, aspirin has been helping millions of people throughout the world to relieve their ailments. And not only on Earth: when, on the 21 July 1969, Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the moon, aspirin is included in the medical kit on board Apollo 11.
The ideas of German scientists, however, not only help to combat pain.
In 1882 Robert Koch discovers the cause of tuberculosis and develops tuberculin. His research points the way towards conquering the widely spread infectious disease. Emil von Behring is the discoverer of a serum to combat diphtheria – one of the most dangerous childhood diseases in the nineteenth century. Based on his work, Paul Ehrlich succeeds in successfully developing human immunisation.
In medical technology, too, German researchers have a tradition of good ideas:
In 1895 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovers X-rays and in 1901 he is awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physics. The first X-ray machine is also developed in Germany, and the cardiac catheter researched – in a self-experiment in 1929, when the Berlin doctor, Werner Forßmann, inserts a catheter into his own heart – and then writes a study about it that paves the way for cardiac surgery.
Georg Haas, a doctor from Giessen, experiments in the 1920s with animals – and carries out the world’s first “blood cleansings” outside the human body. Even today, his method of dialysis is a standard procedure throughout the world.
The “pill” too is a German invention, preventing unwanted pregnancies since 1961. A “pill” for men is to follow. Work is being undertaken in Germany on a medical contraceptive for use by men.
Immunisation against cancer is currently still at the laboratory testing stage. In the foreseeable future, however, German researchers plan to use the new method on people and inject cancer cells under the skin as a form of immunisation.
In 1882 Robert Koch discovers the cause of tuberculosis and develops tuberculin. His research points the way towards conquering the widely spread infectious disease. Emil von Behring is the discoverer of a serum to combat diphtheria – one of the most dangerous childhood diseases in the nineteenth century. Based on his work, Paul Ehrlich succeeds in successfully developing human immunisation.
In medical technology, too, German researchers have a tradition of good ideas:
In 1895 Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovers X-rays and in 1901 he is awarded the first Nobel Prize in Physics. The first X-ray machine is also developed in Germany, and the cardiac catheter researched – in a self-experiment in 1929, when the Berlin doctor, Werner Forßmann, inserts a catheter into his own heart – and then writes a study about it that paves the way for cardiac surgery.
Georg Haas, a doctor from Giessen, experiments in the 1920s with animals – and carries out the world’s first “blood cleansings” outside the human body. Even today, his method of dialysis is a standard procedure throughout the world.
The “pill” too is a German invention, preventing unwanted pregnancies since 1961. A “pill” for men is to follow. Work is being undertaken in Germany on a medical contraceptive for use by men.
Immunisation against cancer is currently still at the laboratory testing stage. In the foreseeable future, however, German researchers plan to use the new method on people and inject cancer cells under the skin as a form of immunisation.
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