Organ Transplants (1660)
The first major organ transplant happened in 1954, but chemist Robert Boyle had already predicted its arrival more than 300 years earlier. Boyle, who was often called “the father of modern chemistry,” created a “wish list” for the future, imagining all of the advances that awaited humanity in the coming years.
Almost all of his predictions have come true, including his belief that one-day science would be able to cure all diseases “by transplantation.”
Sure, we haven’t quite cured “all” diseases just yet, but organ transplants have made some deadly diseases less deadly. The fact that he made this prediction in 1660, when the medical world knew so little about how internal organs actually worked, is kind of incredible.
