General Awareness ยท History
Historical Dates and Firsts
2,390 Questions
Historical dates and firsts questions test your memory of significant global milestones in sports, science, technology, and literature. These factual questions appear regularly in SSC, banking, and state PSC general awareness papers. Use these questions to quickly memorize important historical events and their exact years.
Inventions and launchesSports world firstsHistorical prize awardsTechnology milestones
Historical Dates and Firsts Questions
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The germ theory of disease, which states that microorganisms cause many diseases, was developed by Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch in the late 1850s and 1860s. The year 1858 marks a key period in its formulation.
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Charles Louis Alphonse Laveran discovered the malaria parasite in 1880 while working in Algeria. He identified the Plasmodium parasite in the blood of malaria patients, for which he later received the Nobel Prize.
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Homeopathy was developed by Samuel Hahnemann, beginning around 1790. He formulated the principle of 'like cures like' and began systematic experimentation with diluted substances to treat diseases.
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Sulfonamide antibiotics, the first broadly effective antibacterial drugs, were discovered by Gerhard Domagk in 1932. Prontosil, the first sulfa drug, was found to treat bacterial infections effectively.
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Louis Pasteur developed pasteurization, a process of heating liquids to kill harmful microorganisms, in the 1860s. He first tested it on wine and beer in 1864-1866, and it was later applied to milk processing.
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Edward Jenner developed the smallpox vaccine in 1796 after observing that milkmaids who had cowpox seemed immune to smallpox. He tested his theory by inoculating a young boy with cowpox material, establishing the principle of vaccination.
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Joseph Lister pioneered antiseptic surgery in 1867, introducing the use of carbolic acid (phenol) to sterilize surgical instruments and clean wounds. This dramatically reduced infection rates and revolutionized surgical practice.
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Robert Koch discovered the tuberculosis bacillus (Mycobacterium tuberculosis) in 1882, a breakthrough that established the germ theory of infectious diseases. This discovery was crucial in understanding how tuberculosis spreads and developing methods to control it.
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The oral polio vaccine was developed by Albert Sabin and first used extensively around 1961, while Jonas Salk developed the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), which was declared safe and effective in 1955. Thus, 1955 is the correct historical year associated with the breakthrough of the polio vaccine.
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Gregor Mendel published his groundbreaking work on inheritance in pea plants in 1866, which established the fundamental laws of heredity. His work laid the foundation for understanding genetic mutations, though the term came later.
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August Weismann coined the term germplasm in the 1880s while developing his theory of heredity. His germplasm theory stated that inheritance is transmitted through a specific substance in the germ cells.