The history of medicine has been substantially defined by a small number of monumental discoveries. Most of these breakthroughs have emerged from the biological sciences. One of the first great breakthroughs was the recognition by Koch in 1884 that pathogens could be transmitted from one living organism to another to cause disease. This profound concept led to a revolution in the approach to patient care that ultimately led to introduction of sterile techniques that greatly improved survivals of patients. This knowledge promoted the discovery of antibiotics 40 years later, which dramatically...