China

Hua Tuo
Han, China 190 BC

Hua Tuo was the first to use anesthesia for surgical procedures, using a combination of wine and a form of cannibis. During the Han Dynasty, he became well known for his treatments and cure of the injured general Zhou Tai. He was the first to use the pulse as a diagnostic indicator, and he apparently developed surgical skills that included castration and brain surgery. For this, he lost his life, as recorded in the Records of the Three Kingdoms:

Huà Tuó told Cáo Cäo that to cure him, he would have to open up his skull to rid him of his severe, chronic headaches (most likely due to a tumor, from which he later died). Cáo Cäo thought Huà Tuó had the intention of killing him by opening his skull. This was due to his fear of surgeons after Ji Ping, a former royal surgeon, attempted to assassinate him. Huà Tuó was jailed and ordered to death by Cáo Cao. Upon his execution, Hua Tuo presented a scroll, Qing Nang Shu ( “medical practice book”), to the jailer saying “This can save lives”. But the jailer, did not accept it, whereupon Hua Tuo asked that a fire be built and proceeded to burn the invaluable scroll.