Blood transfusions were developed over centuries with contributions by several key figures:
- The earliest known blood transfusion attempts followed William Harvey's discovery of blood circulation in 1628.
- In 1665, Richard Lower performed the first recorded successful blood transfusion by transfusing blood between dogs.
- Jean-Baptiste Denis in France and Richard Lower in England conducted the first transfusions from animals (lambs) to humans in 1667.
- James Blundell, a British obstetrician, performed the first successful human-to-human blood transfusion in 1818 to treat postpartum hemorrhage using blood from the patient's husband. He also devised instruments to perform transfusions and published his findings.
- Samuel Armstrong Lane performed the first successful whole blood transfusion for hemophilia in 1840.
- Later advances in the 20th century, such as Karl Landsteiner's discovery of blood groups around 1900, made transfusions safer by matching blood types.
- Charles R. Drew in the 1930s developed techniques for preserving plasma, creating the first blood bank which allowed storage and wider availability of blood for transfusions.
Thus, the invention of blood transfusions was a long process marked by key contributions from William Harvey, Richard Lower, Jean-Baptiste Denis, James Blundell, and Charles Drew among others.
