Modern medicine c1900–present
The 20th century saw the most rapid medical progress in human history. Edexcel groups this into magic bullets, antibiotics, the NHS, and lifestyle disease.
Magic bullets — chemical cures
Paul Ehrlich (1854–1915): German scientist who looked for chemicals that would kill the disease microbe but not the patient — "magic bullets". In 1909, his team found Salvarsan 606 for syphilis (the 606th compound tested).
Gerhard Domagk (1895–1964): Found Prontosil (1932), the first sulfonamide — effective against streptococcal infections (including blood poisoning, pneumonia). Saved his daughter when she had a serious infection.
These were the first targeted drugs — chemistry meeting medicine.
Antibiotics — the penicillin story
Alexander Fleming (1881–1955): Returned from holiday in 1928 to find a Petri dish of staphylococcus contaminated with mould (Penicillium notatum) — the bacteria around the mould had died. Published his findings 1929 but couldn't isolate the active substance in usable quantities.
Howard Florey (1898–1968) and Ernst Chain (1906–79): At Oxford, picked up Fleming's work in 1939. Successfully purified penicillin and tested it on a policeman, Albert Alexander, in 1941 — he improved dramatically but died when supplies ran out.
WW2 + USA mass production: With Florey's collaboration, US pharmaceutical companies scaled production. By D-Day (1944) penicillin saved tens of thousands of Allied soldiers' lives.
Importance: First true antibiotic. Cured previously fatal infections (pneumonia, syphilis, gangrene). Limitation: bacterial resistance now an emerging crisis (MRSA from 1960s).
The NHS — the Beveridge Report
The 1942 Beveridge Report identified five "Giant Evils" facing post-war Britain: Want, Disease, Ignorance, Squalor, Idleness. Proposed a comprehensive welfare state including a National Health Service.
Aneurin Bevan (Health Minister) launched the NHS on 5 July 1948:
- Free at point of use
- Funded by general taxation
- Universal coverage
Initially opposed by some doctors BMA — Bevan famously "stuffed their mouths with gold" by guaranteeing high salaries for consultants who joined.
Impact: Life expectancy rose; infant mortality fell; previously unaffordable care now accessible.
Modern technology + lifestyle disease
| Decade | Advance |
|---|---|
| 1950s | Heart-lung machine, joint replacements |
| 1960s | First heart transplant (Barnard, 1967), pacemakers |
| 1970s | CT scans (Hounsfield 1971) |
| 1980s | MRI scans, keyhole surgery, IVF babies |
| 1990s | Human Genome Project (1990–2003) |
| 2000s+ | Robotic surgery, gene therapy, mRNA vaccines (COVID-19, 2020) |
But infectious disease has been replaced by lifestyle disease as the main cause of death:
- Cancer (smoking, diet, obesity)
- Cardiovascular disease (smoking, diet, lack of exercise)
- Type 2 diabetes (obesity)
- Mental health crises
Government responses: smoking ban in public places (2007), sugar tax (2018), 5-a-day campaigns, NHS apps for fitness/mental health.
⚠Common mistakes
- Saying "Fleming discovered penicillin AND mass-produced it" — he discovered + published; Florey + Chain made it usable.
- Forgetting that the NHS depended on Beveridge's wider welfare reforms — it wasn't just about doctors, it was about a new social contract.
- Saying "modern medicine cures everything" — lifestyle disease, drug resistance, mental health all remain frontiers.
AI-generated · claude-opus-4-7 · v3-edexcel-history