(Exhibition text in English, referring to a QR code in the exhibition)
Advances in medicine
Several important discoveries and advances are made in the field of medicine the 1920s. The use of contrast agents improves X-ray images. Measuring the intensity of X-rays leads to developments in radiation protection.
In 1921, the first tuberculosis vaccinations are administered. The disease is responsible for 12 % of all infection-related deaths in Sweden in the 1920s. In the same year, Frederick Banting discovers insulin, an achievement that he and John Macleod are awarded a Nobel Prize for in 1923.
When Swedish doctors were asked to rank the most important medical discoveries of the 20th century in 1999, insulin made third place. Penicillin was number one.
A few objects
In the same year that Banting and Macleod receive their Nobel Prize, 1000 diabetic patients are treated with daily insulin injections. A few years later the number reaches 25 000. Insulin syringe with storage case from the 1920s. The syringes, bowl, containers from the Svanen pharmacy in Lund, and the microscope are on loan from Region Skåne’s medical history collections.