Hippocrates, Greek physician, postulates that the body is comprised of four humors − blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile − and their imbalance causes disease.

Aristotle, Greek philosopher, believes that the heart is the central organ of the body. Following dissections of many different animals Aristotle presumes the heart is a three-chambered organ, even in humans

Galen (Claudius Galenus), Greek physician, describes the anatomy of the human body and includes a reference to ‘bright’ and ‘dark’ blood from separate ‘channels in the body’ which interconnect. Galen also mentions the ‘liver’ as the origin of blood and the kidney’s as a filter. Although incorrect in many details, his descriptions formed the basis for all blood circulation studies for centuries

Earliest recorded transfusion: As a remedy for an apoplectic stroke suffered by Pope Innocent VIII, his physician advised a blood transfusion. The blood of 4 young adults was by crude methods transferred to the Pope. Donors and patient later all died.

William Harvey, English physician, publishes ‘An Anatomical Exercise on the Motion of the Heart and Blood in Animals’ describing in great detail his model for the blood circulation and function of the valves.

Sir Christopher Wren, English architect, uses various instruments devised by William Harvey to inject fluids into the circulation of living animals.

Richard Lower, Oxford physician, records the first blood transfusions: dog-to-dog experiments proceeded to animal-to-human.

Jean-Baptiste Denis, French physician, transfused blood from sheep into a certain Arthur Coga, London. Coga survived.

Philip Syng Physick, American physician, performed the first known human blood transfusion, although he did not publish the particulars.

James Blundell, English obstetrician, performed the first successful transfusion of human blood to a patient for the treatment of postpartum haemorrhage. Blundell performed and published details of another ten transfusions between 1825 and 1830, five of which proved beneficial to his patients. He also devised various instruments for performing blood transfusions.

Samuel Armstrong Lane, London, aided by James Blundell, performed the first successful whole blood transfusion to treat haemophilia.

Joseph Lister, English surgeon, utilized antiseptics to control infection during blood transfusions.

Georges Hayem, French physician, perfected a saline solution, which he claimed could serve as a substitute for blood. Unlike blood, the saline solution had no side effects, did not clot, and was easy to transport.

Karl Landsteiner, Austrian physician, documented the first three human blood groups (based on substances present on the red blood cells), A, B and O.

A. Decastrello and A. Sturli, Italy, found the fourth main blood type, AB.

Hektoen suggested cross-matching blood between donors and patients to exclude incompatible mixtures.

Reuben Ottenberg, American physician, performed the first blood transfusion using blood typing and cross-matching. Ottenberg also observed the 'Mendelian inheritance' of blood groups and recognized the ’universal’ utility of group O donors.

Alexis Carrel, French surgeon, devised a way to prevent blood clotting. His method involved surgically joining an artery in the donor directly to a vein in the recipient. This procedure, not feasible for blood transfusion, paved the way for successful organ transplantation, for which Carrel received the Nobel Prize in 1912.

Carlo Moreschi, Italian physician, documented the antiglobulin reaction.

Roger Lee, American physician, and P. White formulated and developed the 'Lee-White' clotting time. Lee further demonstrated that blood from all groups can be given to group AB patients.

Long-term anticoagulants, among them sodium citrate, were developed, allowing longer preservation of blood.

Luis Agote, Argentinian physician, Albert Hustin, Belgian physician, and Richard Lewisohn, New York physician, independently describe methods for using anticoagulated blood

Francis Rous and J. R. Turner introduced the Rous-Turner solution: a citrate-glucose solution that permitted storage of blood for several days after collection.

Percy Lane Oliver, English librarian, established the first civilian unremunerated donor panel in Camberwell, South London. He kept a register of volunteers who would travel to a London hospital requiring their blood. In 1926 this service became London-wide and expanded until, in 1938, 6,538 donations were arranged.

Karl Landsteiner, Austrian physician but now working in the US, in collaboration with Phillip Levine, discovered three more blood groups: M, N and P.

The British Red Cross instituted the first human blood transfusion service in the world.

Serge Yudin, Russia, is the first to test the efficacy of transfusing humans with cadaver blood.

The first hospital blood depot was established in Leningrad, Russia.

The International Society of Blood Transfusion (ISBT) was founded.

Hyland markets the first vacuum blood collection bottle.

Duran Jorda, Spanish physician, set up a blood bank during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) in Barcelona, and Norman Bethune, a Canadian surgeon, set one up in Madrid. Both developed the concept of taking blood to the wounded rather than the wounded to the blood. Their methods were complex and involved mixing several donations of the same group. In an attempt to prevent the growth of anaerobic bacteria, pressurised air was forced into each bottle, converting 99% of the haemoglobin to oxyhaemoglobin.

Philip Levine, R.E. Stetson and Alexander Wiener uncover an unknown antibody in the blood of a woman who's given birth to a stillborn. Through experiments with the red blood cells of Rhesus monkeys they discover the Rh blood group.

Edwin Cohn, American scientist, developed a cold ethanol fractionation: the process of breaking down plasma into components and products. Albumin, gamma globulin and fibrinogen were isolated and became available for clinical use.

John Elliott demonstrates the efficacy of the use of albumin in transfusion.

Charles Drew, American physician, documented a technique for long-term preservation of blood plasma by separating the liquid red blood cells from the near solid plasma and freezing the two separately. Cryopreservation allowed blood to be preserved and reconstituted at a later date.

As the prospect of war with Germany loomed the War Office in Britain made the decision to blood group every member of HM Forces and issue all medical units with the equipment required to run a donor session in the field in order to obtain blood where it was needed with the minimum delay. This involved the setting up of the Army Blood Transfusion Service (ABTS) and an equipment depot − the Army Blood Supply Depot (ABSD).

Isodor Ravdin, American surgeon, effectively treated victims of the Pearl Harbor attack with Cohn's albumin for shock. Injected into the blood stream, albumin absorbs liquid from surrounding tissues, preventing blood vessels from collapsing; the finding associated with shock.

J Loutit and PL Mollison, London, introduce acid citrate dextrose (ACD) solution, which reduces the volume of anticoagulant, permitting transfusions of greater volumes of blood and longer term blood storage.

Paul Beeson, American physician, published the link between blood transfusion and the occurrence of jaundice some months later: a classic description of transfusion-transmitted hepatitis.

Coombs, Mourant and Race, English veterinary surgeon and physicians, described the use of antihuman globulin (the ‘Coombs Test’) to identify ‘incomplete’ antibodies.

With the end of the war, it was realised that the structure, which had proved so successful for blood collection, should be preserved and the National Blood Transfusion Service was founded in England and Wales.

The use of glycerol cryoprotectant for freezing red blood cells became widespread.

Carl W Walter and WP Murphy, produce the plastic bag for blood collection, replacing the breakable glass bottles used to date.

Development of the refrigerated centrifuge began to further expedite blood component therapy.

The blood product Cryoprecipitate (now AHF) was developed for people suffering from haemophilia.

Products made from blood plasma were developed to treat diseases such as chicken pox.

Max Perutz, English physician, deciphered through the use of X-ray crystallography, the molecular structure of haemoglobin.

Alan Solomon and John L Fahey, American physicians, reported the first therapeutic plasmapheresis procedure.

During the Korean War, nearly 22 percent of those who received plasma transfusions developed hepatitis: almost triple the rate during World War II.

The role of platelet concentrates in reducing mortality from haemorrhage in cancer patients was recognized.

Judith Graham Pool, American physician, identifies the technique, now known as cryoprecipitation for concentrating factor VIII from blood plasma.

Rh immune globulin was commercially introduced to prevent Rh disease in the newborns of Rh-negative women.

Scott Murphy and Frank H Gardner, American scientists, demonstrated the feasibility of storing Platelets at room temperature, which revolutionized platelet transfusion therapy.

Better screening and careful donor selection reduced the number of cases of hepatitis B contamination but a new and sometimes fatal form of virus-hepatitis − hepatitis C took a heavy toll. Rigorous testing eventually also reduced the prevalence of hepatitis C transmission.

Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) testing of donated blood instigated.

Apheresis was used to extract one cellular component, returning the rest of the blood to the donor.

A new anticoagulant preservative, CPDA-1, which extends the shelf life of whole blood and red blood cells to 35 days is introduced.

The first cases of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) where identified. The syndrome was initially called GRID (Gay-related Immunodeficiency Disease), due to its prevalence among gay men.

Bruce Evatt, American physician, presents his paper suspecting that AIDS is blood born after the discovery of the syndrome amongst haemophiliacs.

Luc Montagnier, French virologist, isolates the virus that causes AIDS. Isolated from the swollen lymph node in the neck of a Parisian AIDS patient it is labelled LAV (lymphadenopathy-associated virus).

Robert Gallo, American biophysician, announces that he's identified the virus that causes AIDS, calling it HTLV III (human T-cell lymphotropic virus).

The first HIV antibody test was introduced.

Representatives of the four UK Blood Transfusion Services form a liaison with the National Institute of Biological Standards and Control to form the Joint UKBTS/NIBSC Professional Advisory Committee (JPAC)

After a 2 year legal battle, French & American governments agree to share credit for the discovery of the AIDS virus and to share the royalties from the sales of test kits for the virus.

Human T Lymphotropic Virus I antibody (anti-HTLV-I) testing introduced.

First Edition of the ‘Handbook of Transfusion Medicine’ published.

Hepatitis C testing introduced.

First edition of the ‘Guidelines for the Blood Transfusion Services in the United Kingdom’, also known as the ‘Red Book’, published.

First edition of the ‘Guidelines for the Medical Assessment of Blood Donors’ published.

HIV antigen testing introduced.

Using the advances made in genetic engineering, Nucleic Acid Amplification Testing (NAT) for HIV and HCV was introduced.

Hepatitis B core antibody testing (anti-HBc) and alanine aminotransferase test (ALT) introduced.

The European Association of the Plasma Products Industry, a trade group representing blood manufacturers in Europe and the UK, is founded.

Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) identified. The clinical, epidemiological, neuropathological and experimental data all point to variant CJD being caused by the same strain of prion as Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE). This is a different strain of prion from those seen in sporadic CJD.

The UK Department of Health (DH) publishes it circular 'Better Blood Transfusion'. The circular recommendations make evidence based practice for blood transfusion mandatory for all NHS hospitals and in particular recommends the introduction of perioperative cell salvage (PCS)

Leucodepletion applied to all blood and component donations in the UK.