Famous doctors and healers quiz (50 questions)
Vaccines, hospitals, clean hands and sight for the blind: match the healer to what they did, and read the story of how they helped.
About this quiz: the people, prizes and dates were checked against official and reference sources, and the stories are retold in makekite's own words with the help of AI. If you spot a mistake, please tell us on the contact page.
50 multiple-choice questions, with the answer explained after each one.
Answer each question, see why, and beat your best score.
All 50 questions and answers
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- Hippocrates, born on the Greek island of Kos, is linked to a famous promise made by doctors. What is it called?
- The Hippocratic Oath
- The Nightingale Pledge
- The Red Cross Charter
- The Geneva Declaration
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The Hippocratic Oath. Hippocrates taught that illness has natural causes.
- Galen, born in Pergamon, was a physician to Roman rulers. What did he study to learn about the body?
- Anatomy of animals
- The stars
- Plants only
- Ancient poetry
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Anatomy of animals. His books were used by doctors for well over a thousand years.
- Sushruta is traditionally credited with writing an ancient Indian book on surgery. What is it called?
- Arthashastra
- Charaka Samhita
- Sushruta Samhita
- Manusmriti
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Sushruta Samhita. It describes operations and tools, and the city of Varanasi is linked with Sushruta.
- Charaka is traditionally credited with a major text of Ayurveda. What is it called?
- Sushruta Samhita
- Panchatantra
- Charaka Samhita
- Rigveda
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Charaka Samhita. It deals with medicine, diet and the care of patients.
- Al-Razi, a physician from Persia, was among the first to tell apart which two diseases?
- Flu and cold
- Malaria and cholera
- Polio and mumps
- Smallpox and measles
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Smallpox and measles. He worked as a physician and writer in Persia and Baghdad.
- Andreas Vesalius published a famous illustrated book on the human body in 1543. What is it called?
- De humani corporis fabrica
- Gray's Anatomy
- The Lancet
- Canon of Medicine
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De humani corporis fabrica. He learned about the body by careful dissection.
- William Harvey explained in 1628 that blood does what?
- Circulates around the body
- Flows only to the head
- Is made fresh each day in the liver
- Stays in the heart
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Circulates around the body. He showed that the heart pumps blood in a circuit.
- Li Shizhen wrote a vast Chinese book about medicines from plants, animals and minerals. What is it called?
- Compendium of Materia Medica
- The Art of War
- Dream of the Red Chamber
- Records of the Grand Historian
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Compendium of Materia Medica. It took him years of travel and study to complete.
- In 1796 Edward Jenner used material from cowpox to protect a boy against which disease?
- Smallpox
- Measles
- Plague
- Polio
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Smallpox. Jenner lived in Gloucestershire. The word 'vaccine' is linked to cows because of his cowpox method.
- Joseph Lister reduced deaths after surgery in the 1860s by using which substance to clean wounds and instruments?
- Salt water
- Vinegar
- Alcohol from wine
- Carbolic acid
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Carbolic acid. His antiseptic methods made operations far safer.
- Ignaz Semmelweis, a Hungarian doctor, found in Vienna that washing hands helped to prevent which illness in mothers?
- Malaria
- Childbed (puerperal) fever
- Influenza
- Tuberculosis
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Childbed (puerperal) fever. Many colleagues did not believe him at first.
- In 1854 John Snow traced a cholera outbreak in London to a water pump on which street?
- Oxford Street
- Fleet Street
- Baker Street
- Broad Street
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Broad Street. His map of cases is a famous example of using data to protect health.
- René Laennec invented which medical instrument in 1816?
- The stethoscope
- The microscope
- The syringe
- The thermometer
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The stethoscope. He first used a rolled-up paper tube to listen to a patient's chest.
- Florence Nightingale became famous nursing wounded soldiers during which war?
- The Boer War
- The Crimean War
- The American Civil War
- The First World War
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The Crimean War. She was known as 'the Lady with the Lamp' and campaigned for cleaner hospitals.
- Mary Seacole, born in Jamaica, ran what for soldiers during the Crimean War?
- A printing press
- The British Hotel, which looked after the sick and wounded
- A railway
- A school for officers
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The British Hotel, which looked after the sick and wounded. She nursed and fed soldiers close to the battlefield.
- Elizabeth Blackwell earned a medical degree in 1849, becoming the first woman to do so in which country?
- The United States
- Britain
- Australia
- India
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The United States. She studied at Geneva Medical College in New York.
- Rebecca Lee Crumpler earned a medical degree in 1864. What was special about it?
- She was the first nurse in the US army
- She was the first African-American woman to become a doctor
- She discovered penicillin
- She invented the vaccine
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She was the first African-American woman to become a doctor. She wrote a book of medical advice for women and children.
- Susan La Flesche Picotte, who belonged to the Omaha people, became the first Native American woman to do what?
- Earn a medical degree
- Climb a mountain
- Fly a plane
- Win an election
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Earn a medical degree. She worked to improve health care for her community.
- Anandibai Joshi was the first Indian woman to earn a medical degree in Western medicine. At which US college did she study?
- Johns Hopkins
- Columbia
- Harvard Medical School
- Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania
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Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania. She returned to India but died young.
- Kadambini Ganguly was one of the first women in South Asia to become a doctor. In which city did she practise?
- Bombay
- Madras
- Calcutta
- Lahore
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Calcutta. She opened doors for women in medicine in India.
- Muthulakshmi Reddi, a doctor in Madras, set up Avvai Home. What did it help?
- Injured soldiers
- Visiting pilgrims
- Stray animals
- Girls and women in need
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Girls and women in need. She was also a legislator and worked for women's rights.
- Jonas Salk developed an injected vaccine against polio. What did he reportedly decline to take out for it?
- A grant
- A prize
- A patent
- A degree
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A patent. The vaccine was announced as safe in 1955.
- Albert Sabin is known for developing which type of polio vaccine?
- A skin patch
- An oral vaccine given by mouth
- An injection only
- A nose spray
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An oral vaccine given by mouth. It was easy to give to large numbers of children.
- Ida Scudder founded the medical college and hospital in which Indian town?
- Mysore
- Vellore
- Pune
- Madurai
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Vellore. It is now called the Christian Medical College.
- Dwarkanath Kotnis was an Indian doctor who went to help in which country during the Second Sino-Japanese War?
- China
- Burma
- Japan
- Vietnam
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China. He treated wounded soldiers and civilians.
- Dr V. Shanta devoted her career to treating cancer patients at which institute in Chennai?
- Apollo Hospital
- Adyar Cancer Institute
- AIIMS
- Tata Memorial
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Adyar Cancer Institute. The institute is known for treating many patients free or at low cost.
- Cicely Saunders started the modern hospice movement at which London hospice?
- Guy's
- St Christopher's Hospice
- Great Ormond Street
- The London Hospital
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St Christopher's Hospice. She believed dying people deserve comfort and dignity.
- Virginia Apgar created a quick score for checking the health of what?
- Heart patients
- Athletes
- Newborn babies
- Soldiers
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Newborn babies. She was an anaesthesiologist.
- Helen Taussig helped to develop an operation for babies with a heart problem known as what?
- Scurvy
- Blue baby syndrome
- Whooping cough
- Rickets
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Blue baby syndrome. She worked at Johns Hopkins.
- Paul Farmer helped to found which organisation that brings health care to poor communities, including in Haiti?
- Save the Children
- Partners In Health
- Oxfam
- Doctors of the World
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Partners In Health. He believed everyone should get good medical care.
- Ruth Pfau, a German doctor who lived in Pakistan, spent her life fighting which disease?
- Malaria
- Leprosy
- Cholera
- Polio
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Leprosy. She helped to bring the disease under control in Pakistan.
- Clara Barton founded which organisation in the United States?
- The American Red Cross
- The Peace Corps
- The Salvation Army
- UNICEF
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The American Red Cross. She had first nursed soldiers during the Civil War.
- Norman Bethune, a Canadian doctor, went to China and helped to set up what?
- Mobile medical services for soldiers
- A railway
- A university
- A newspaper
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Mobile medical services for soldiers. He is remembered for developing blood transfusion services at the front.
- Fred Hollows, born in New Zealand and based in Australia, spent his life helping people with eye diseases. Which disease did he campaign against?
- Cholera
- Trachoma
- Measles
- Glaucoma only
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Trachoma. The Fred Hollows Foundation continues his work, with a focus on affordable eye care.
- Dr Victor Chang was a pioneering heart surgeon in which city?
- Perth
- Hobart
- Sydney
- Darwin
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Sydney. He helped to bring heart transplants to Australia.
- Fiona Wood, a surgeon in Perth, developed a treatment for burns called what?
- Artificial blood
- Cooling gel
- A burn vaccine
- Spray-on skin
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Spray-on skin. Her team treated many victims of the Bali bombing.
- Catherine Hamlin, born in Sydney, helped women with childbirth injuries at a hospital in which city?
- Addis Ababa
- Lagos
- Cairo
- Nairobi
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Addis Ababa. The hospital treats fistula, a condition caused by long labour.
- Dr Sanduk Ruit of Nepal is known for developing low-cost methods to treat what?
- Cataracts
- Hearing loss
- Broken bones
- Dental decay
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Cataracts. He has restored the sight of many thousands of people.
- Dr Govindappa Venkataswamy founded the Aravind Eye Hospital in which Indian city?
- Chennai
- Hyderabad
- Bengaluru
- Madurai
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Madurai. It treats large numbers of patients, many of them for little or no cost.
- Dr Devi Prasad Shetty is known for founding which hospital group offering affordable heart surgery in India?
- Fortis
- Manipal
- Narayana Health
- Max Healthcare
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Narayana Health. His aim has been to make heart care affordable for everyone.
- Dr Hawa Abdi sheltered tens of thousands of displaced people in a camp in which country?
- Kenya
- Sudan
- Ethiopia
- Somalia
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Somalia. She was a doctor who turned her hospital into a refuge.
- Ronald Ross, who was born in Almora, India, won a Nobel Prize for his research into which disease?
- Cholera
- Malaria
- Leprosy
- Plague
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Malaria. He joined the Indian Medical Service in 1881.
- Frederick Banting shared a Nobel Prize for his work on which hormone?
- Oestrogen
- Thyroxine
- Insulin
- Adrenaline
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Insulin. He was Canadian and worked in Toronto.
- Albert Schweitzer won the Nobel Peace Prize after founding a hospital in which country?
- Kenya
- Ghana
- Gabon
- Congo
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Gabon. He worked at Lambaréné until his death in 1965.
- Dr Denis Mukwege set up Panzi Hospital to treat survivors of sexual violence. In which city?
- Kinshasa
- Goma
- Kigali
- Bukavu
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Bukavu. He won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2018.
- Barry Marshall and Robin Warren, two Australian doctors, won a Nobel Prize for showing that a bacterium causes what?
- Asthma
- Stomach ulcers
- Flu
- Heart disease
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Stomach ulcers. The bacterium is Helicobacter pylori.
- Willem Einthoven won a Nobel Prize for discovering the mechanism of which hospital test?
- The CT scan
- The electrocardiogram (ECG)
- The X-ray
- The blood test
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The electrocardiogram (ECG). It records the electrical activity of the heart.
- Robert Koch, who won a Nobel Prize in 1905, found the germ that causes which lung disease?
- Asthma
- Pneumonia
- Bronchitis
- Tuberculosis
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Tuberculosis. He helped to prove that specific germs cause specific diseases.
- Louis Pasteur developed a vaccine against which disease spread by animal bites?
- Plague
- Rabies
- Yellow fever
- Smallpox
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Rabies. He also showed that heating can destroy germs in food and drink.
- During the First World War, Marie Curie organised mobile teams equipped with what, to help wounded soldiers?
- Blood banks
- Operating tents
- Ambulance boats
- X-ray machines
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X-ray machines. Her work saved many lives by helping surgeons to find bullets and breaks.