History of the Prosthetic Limb and the Brain-Machine Interface
600 B.C.
The oldest simple prosthetic
424 B.C.
The oldest document to mention a prosthetic is written by a Greek historian, Herodotus. He tells of a Persian seer who was due for execution but escaped by amputating one injured foot and replacing it with a wooden peg.
264-146 B.C.
During this time period, the Punic Wars, the Romans developed an iron prosthetic prototype for the warriors who lost limbs. Pliny the Elder writes about a soldier who had an iron hand created to hold his shield.
The Dark Ages
This time period saw little or no advancement in the field of prosthetics. Most prosthetics at the time were used to conceal deformities, not to allow movement of the limb.
The Early Renaissance
Materials of better quality begin to be used
in prosthetics. Springs and fine materials were used to make
prosthetics more life-like
1508 A.D.
A German soldier named Gotz von Berlichingen uses a two part artificial hand to replace his right arm. This acted like a joint and allowed movement unlike previous prosthetics. Mobility of his hand was achieved by utilizing leather straps and springs.
1536 A.D.
Ambroise Pare improves amputations and designs
a prosthetic
The Civil War
The design of the prosthetic changes for the better, and mass production begins due to the large number of battlefield injuries that occur. The US prosthetics industry is born.
World War II
So many amputations and incidents of limb loss occur that the American government begins funding prosthetics instead of weapons for a short period of time.
1963 A.D.
Jose Manuel Rodriguez Delgado creates the earliest known brain interface by planting a radio-controlled electrode in a portion of a bull's brain known as the caudate nucleus. He managed to bring the animal from a full run to a dead stop by pressing a single button on his remote transmitter.
1969 A.D.
Eberhard Fetz from the University of Washington conducts a neurological study with monkeys. He implants a microelectrode in each monkey's brain to gather neurological data. These monkeys were trained to activate specific electrical signals in the brain, and these pulses controlled the firing of a single neuron.
2011 A.D.
Miguel Nicolelis and his team at Duke University show how a brain-machine interface can allow a monkey to operate a software avatar just by thinking what it wanted the avatar to do.