The hypodermic syringe
Syringes have existed in some form since ancient history, with Romans and Egyptians using them to remove, for instance, cataracts.
In the 1850s, Scottish doctor Alexander Wood and French veterinary surgeon Charles Gabriel Pavaz were the first to invent a hollow, hypodermic needle fine enough to pierce the skin, modelled on a bee sting.
Subcutaneous injection has since transformed drug delivery and allowed the development of large-molecule therapies, as well the taking of blood samples. But hypodermic needles have also become associated with drug addiction and overdose. Historians disagree over whether Wood’s wife (and cousin) Mary died of an injected drug overdose following her use of morphine for neuralgia.