Organ Donation, Transplants, and Rejection

Early transplant attempts weren't well-documented, but in the late 16th century, Gaspare Tagliacozzi performed skin grafts and documented his techniques in "On the Surgery of Mutilation by Grafting," which hinted at the science behind skin graft rejection.

Two technologies that set the stage for bigger breakthroughs in transplantation were anesthesia and antiseptic surgery, which allowed surgeons to practice more and operate with a smaller risk of infection.

Joseph Murray performed the first successful human-to-human kidney transplant in 1954 using a patient's identical twin as a donor, bypassing the issue of rejection because their immune systems were a straightforward match.