1921 - 1990s
earlier | later

• 1921 - Epidural lumbar anaesthesia - Pages
• 1921 - CO2 common in anaesthesia - Haldane & Henderson
• 1923 - Ethylene introduced - Luckhardt
• 1923 - Adams Valve provided constant reduced pressure
• 1923 - CO2 absorption in man - Waters
• 1926 - ‘Balanced anaesthesia’ - Lundy
• 1927 - Cyclopropane demonstrated - Lucas & Henderson
• 1928 - Circle system CO2 absorber - Sword
• 1928 - Blind nasal intubation
• 1929 - Sodium amytal for IV induction of anaesthesia - Zerfas
• 1929 - Penicillin - Alexander Fleming
• 1930 - Cyclopropane introduced - Waters
• 1930 - Divinyl ether introduced
• 1933 - Minnitt’s gas & air apparatus
• 1933 - Guedel’s airway
• 1934 - Thiopentone - Lundy
• 1935 - Sulphonamides introduced - Domagk
• 1935 - Diploma of Anaesthetics established
• 1938 - ‘Spiropulsator’ used in anaesthetics - Crafoord
• 1939 - Pethidine synthesised - Hoechst®
• 1940 - Rhesus factor isolated - Landsteiner & Weiner
• 1941 - Trichlorethylene - Langton Hewer
• 1942 - Curare used clinically - Griffith
• 1943 - Macintosh laryngoscope
• 1943 - First electronic computer - ‘ENIAC’
• 1947 - Lignocaine used clinically - Gordh
• 1948 - Hypotensive anaesthesia - Griffiths & Gillies
• 1949 - Hexamethonium - Paton & Zaimis
• 1949 - Melrose Disk Oxygenator
• 1950 - Induced hypothermia - Bigelow
• 1951 - Halothane synthesised - Suckling
• 1953 - FFARCS introduced
• 1956 - IPPV used for post-operative respiratory failure - Bjork & Engstrom
• 1956 - Halothane introduced - Michael Johnstone
• 1960s - ECG, temperature, invasive BP monitors , portable defibrillators (AC) introduced
• 1970s - CO2 monitors, NIBP, Isoflurane
• 1980s - Disposable breathing systems
• 1990s - Anaesthetic agent analysers
• 1990s - Minimum acceptable anaesthetic monitoring = ECG, NIBP, CO2exp, FIO2, (volatile agent analyser for ‘awareness’)
• 1990s - ‘Anaesthetic Work Station’, ‘Standards’