The history of medicine is usually told through a handful of famous names.

But the real story is much messier.

Many of the people who changed medicine were ignored in their lifetime, overshadowed by others, or simply forgotten. Yet their ideas still shape how medicine is practised today.

This short book tells ten of those stories.

A Scottish doctor who invented the intravenous drip during a cholera outbreak.
A scientist who recognised airborne plague and introduced the medical face mask.
A young chemist who developed the first effective treatment for leprosy.

Most people have never heard of them.

But their work still saves lives every day.