First Successful Organ Transplant

16th Century-Italian surgeon, Gaspare Tagliacozzi pioneered skin grafts

(Italy On This Day).

Late 1860s-British surgeon Joseph Lister invents antiseptic surgery (BBC).

Late 1880s-Swiss physician Emil Theodor Kocher removes thyroid tissue from over 100 patients and puts the same tissue back in (Stern).

Late 1940s- British biologist Peter Medawar researched organ compatibility in twin cows, concluding that identical twins will not typically reject each other's organs (Narain).

1954- Joseph Murray performs the first successful organ transplant in history (Dean).

1990- Joseph Murray receives the Nobel Prize for his work on organ transplantation (Countway Library).

Early 2000s to Present Day-Organ transplants became more effective and reach rates of 30-40,000 transplants annually (UNOS).