Some medical breakthroughs can be attributed to one scientist, but it often takes a team to come up with something that truly changes the world. Even when there is no team, we can often look back and see how something successful was built on the work of others. That was the case in the development of anesthetics for surgery. The first public demonstration of surgery using ether was the removal of a neck tumor at Massachusetts General Hospital in 1846. Who should get the credit- the chemist who made the anesthetic, dentist who administered the ether, or the doctor who performed the surgery? Or should it be one of the dentists who had already used ether or nitrous oxide without making a big deal out of it?
The news of painless surgery spread quickly, and it wasn't long before a monument was erected in Boston's Public Garden to commemorate the procedure. But because of the controversy over who should get the credit, no names were affixed to the monument. Oh, it has an inscription, just no credit to any one person. Read about that squabble and the monument that still stands at Amusing Planet.
(Image credit: Another Believer)
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