Editing Gastroenterology (section)

== History ==
[[File:Bozzini Lichtleiter.jpg|thumb|Drawings of Bozzini's "Lichtleiter", an early [[endoscope]]]]
Citing from [[Ancient Egypt|Egyptian]] [[papyrus|papyri]], [[John F. Nunn]] identified significant knowledge of gastrointestinal diseases among practicing physicians during the periods of the [[pharaoh]]s. [[Irynakhty]], of the tenth dynasty, {{circa}} 2125 B.C., was a [[court physician]] specializing in gastroenterology, sleeping, and [[proctology]].<ref>Nunn JF. Ancient Egyptian Medicine. 2002. {{ISBN|0-8061-3504-2}}.</ref>

Among [[ancient Greece|ancient Greeks]], [[Hippocrates]] attributed [[digestion]] to [[concoction]]. [[Galen]]'s concept of the [[stomach]] having four ''faculties'' was widely accepted up to modernity in the seventeenth century.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=van den Tweel |first1=Jan G. |last2=Taylor |first2=Clive R. |date=April 2013 |title=The rise and fall of the autopsy |url=http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s00428-013-1387-3 |journal=Virchows Archiv |language=en |volume=462 |issue=4 |pages=371–380 |doi=10.1007/s00428-013-1387-3 |issn=0945-6317}}</ref>

=== 18th century ===
* [[Italy|Italian]] [[Lazzaro Spallanzani]] (1729–99) was among early [[physician]]s to disregard Galen's theories, and in 1780 he gave experimental proof on the action of [[gastric juice]] on foodstuffs.
* In 1767, [[Germany|German]] [[Johann Georg Ritter von Zimmermann|Johann von Zimmermann]] wrote an important work on [[dysentery]].
* In 1777, [[Maximilian Stoll]] of [[Vienna]] described [[gallbladder cancer|cancer of the gallbladder]].<ref>Edgardo Rivera, MD
James L. Abbruzzese, MD; Pancreatic, Hepatic, and Biliary Carcinomas, Medical Oncology: A Comprehensive Review [http://www.cancernetwork.com/textbook/morev16.htm/] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212230048/http://www.cancernetwork.com/textbook/morev16.htm/|date=2007-12-12}}</ref><ref>DeStoll M: Rationis Mendendi, in Nosocomio Practico vendobonensi.
Part 1 LugduniBatavarum, Haak et Socios et A et J Honkoop 1788, {{OCLC|23625746}}</ref>

=== 19th century ===
* In 1805, [[Philipp Bozzini]] made the first attempt to observe inside the living human body using a tube he named ''Lichtleiter'' (light-guiding instrument) to examine the [[urinary tract]], the [[rectum]], and the [[human pharynx|pharynx]]. This is the earliest description of [[endoscopy]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Gilger |first=MA |date=October 2001 |title=Gastroenterologic endoscopy in children: past, present, and future |journal=Current Opinion in Pediatrics |volume=13 |issue=5 |pages=429–34 |doi=10.1097/00008480-200110000-00008 |pmid=11801888 |s2cid=39462852}}</ref><ref>[http://www.olympus-global.com/en/corc/history/endo/ The Origin of Endoscopes, Olympus history]</ref>
* [[Charles Emile Troisier]] described enlargement of [[lymph node]]s in abdominal cancer.<ref>[[Anton Sebastian]], ''A Dictionary of the History of Medicine'', {{ISBN|1-85070-021-4}}</ref>
* In 1823, [[William Prout]] discovered that [[stomach]] juices contain [[hydrochloric acid]].<ref>''Prout, W.'' On the nature of the acid and saline matters usually existing in the stomachs of animals.&nbsp;– Philos. Transactions, 1824, 1, 45.</ref>
* In 1833, [[William Beaumont]] published ''Experiments and Observations on the Gastric Juice and the Physiology of Digestion'' following years of experimenting on test subject [[Alexis St. Martin]].
* In 1868, [[Adolf Kussmaul]], a well-known German physician, developed the [[gastroscope]]. He perfected the technique on a [[Sword swallowing|sword swallower]].
* In 1871, at the society of physicians in Vienna, [[Karl Stoerk|Carl Stoerk]] demonstrated an esophagoscope made of two telescopic metal tubes, initially devised by Waldenburg in 1870.
* In 1876, [[Karl Wilhelm von Kupffer]] described the properties of some liver cells now called [[Kupffer cell]]s.
* In 1883, [[Hugo Kronecker]] and [[Samuel James Meltzer]] studied oesophageal [[Esophageal motility study|manometry]] in humans.
[[Image:McClendon pH-probe.png|60px|thumb|[[Jesse Francis McClendon|McClendon's]] pH-probe]]

=== 20th century ===
* In 1915, [[Jesse Francis McClendon|Jesse McClendon]] tested [[Gastric acid|acidity]] of human stomach ''[[in situ]]''.<ref>McClendon J. F. New hydrogen electrodes and rapid methods of determining hydrogen ion concentrations.&nbsp;– Amer. J. Physoil., 1915, 38, 2, 180.</ref>
* In 1921–22, [[Walter C. Alvarez|Walter Alvarez]] did the first [[electrogastrogram|electrogastrography]] research.<ref>{{cite journal |vauthors=Alvarez WC |year=1922 |title=The electrogastrogram and what it shows |url=https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/229618 |journal=JAMA: The Journal of the American Medical Association |publisher=JAMA |volume=78 |issue=15 |page=1116 |doi=10.1001/jama.1922.02640680020008 |access-date=22 May 2020}}</ref>
* [[Rudolf Schindler (doctor)|Rudolf Schindler]] described many important diseases involving the human digestive system during [[World War I]] in his illustrated textbook and is portrayed by some as the "father of gastroscopy". He and [[Georg Wolf]] developed a semiflexible gastroscope in 1932.
* In 1932, [[Burrill Bernard Crohn]] described [[Crohn's disease]].
* In 1957, [[Basil Hirschowitz]] introduced the first prototype of a [[Optical fiber#Other uses|fibreoptic]] gastroscope.

=== 21st century ===
* In 2005, [[Barry Marshall]] and [[Robin Warren]] of Australia were awarded the [[Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine]] for their discovery of ''[[Helicobacter pylori]]'' (1982/1983) and its role in [[peptic ulcer disease]]. James Leavitt assisted in their research, but the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously so he was not included in the award.