Human beings and other animals have had cancer throughout recorded history. So it’s no surprise that from the dawn of history people have written about cancer. Some of the earliest evidence of cancer is found among fossilized bone tumors, human mummies in ancient Egypt, and ancient manuscripts. The oldest known description of cancer dates back to around 3000 BC in ancient Egypt. However, the true nature of the disease was not understood at that time.

The Greek physician Hippocrates (460-370 BC) is often credited with coining the term “cancer,” which he derived from the Greek word “karkinos,” meaning crab, due to the way tumors could resemble crab’s legs. However, it was later that a Roman physician, Celsus (25 BC – 50 AD), who translated the Greek term into cancer, the Latin word for crab. Progress in understanding cancer was limited during this period, until the Renaissance period when a Scottish surgeon John Hunter (1728-1793) suggested that some cancers could be cured by surgery and described how a surgeon could decide which cancers to operate on.

The advent of pathology as a medical specialty brought significant advancements in the understanding of cancer. In 1838, German pathologist Johannes Muller proposed the theory that cancers arise from cells. Later, the discovery of X-rays in 1895 by Wilhelm Roentgen marked the beginning of radiation therapy for cancer treatment. Surgical techniques also improved during this time.

From the 1940s-1950s chemotherapy development revolutionized cancer treatment. Researchers began to use drugs to target and kill cancer cells, leading to significant advancements in various types of cancer treatment.

Later in the 20th Century, advancements in understanding cancer genetics and molecular biology led to the identification of oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, providing insights into the genetic basis of cancer. This was closely followed with the use of precision medicine and targeted therapies which gained momentum, allowing oncologists to tailor treatments based on a patient’s specific genetic profile. Immunotherapy, which harnesses the body’s immune system to fight cancer, also emerged as a promising treatment approach.