Where does medical progress come from?

online lecture by Werner Hoffmann on 13 May 2025, 3 p.m.

Moderation: Petra Schultheiß-Reimann

Until the end of the Middle Ages, Hippocratic-Galenic medicine and Arabic influences had shaped medical practice in Europe for over 1,300 years. With the beginning of the Renaissance, a rapid and diverse cultural development began in Europe. As a result, from around the middle of the 18th century onwards, there was also a gradual paradigm shift in medicine in Europe. From then on, life processes and diseases were explained in cellular and molecular terms. As a result of this new way of looking at things, enormous progress has been made in medical diagnostics and therapy, particularly in the last 180 years – and this rapid development continues unabated.

This raises the question of what has triggered this new dynamic and what are the reasons for today's exponential progress in medicine . What can we expect for the future?