Timeline of immunology:

• 1798 - First demonsration of vaccination smallpox vaccination (Edward Jenner)
• 1837 - First description of the role of microbes in putrefaction and fermentation (Theodore Schwann)
• 1838 - Confirmation of the role of yeast in fermentation of sugar to alcohol (Charles Cagniard-Latour)
• 1840 - First "modern" proposal of the germ theory of disease (Jakob Henle)
• 1850 - Demonstration of the contagious nature of puerperal fever (childbed fever) (Ignaz Semmelweis)
• 1857-1870 - Confirmation of the role of microbes in fermentation (Louis Pasteur)
• 1862 - phagocytosis (Ernst Haeckel)
• 1867 - First aseptic practice in surgery using carbolic acid (Joseph Lister)
• 1876 - First demonstration that microbes can cause disease-anthrax (Robert Koch)
• 1877 - Mast cells (Paul Ehrlich)
• 1878 - Confirmation and popularization of the germ theory of disease (Louis Pasteur)
• 1880 - 1881 -Theory that bacterial virulence could be attenuated by culture in vitro and used as vaccines. Proposed that live attenuated microbes produced immunity by depleting host of vital trace nutrients. Used to make chicken cholera and anthrax "vaccines" (Louis Pasteur)
• 1883 - 1905 - Cellular theory of immunity via phagocytosis by macrophages and microphages (polymorhonuclear leukocytes) (Elie Metchnikoff)
• 1885 - Introduction of concept of a "therapeutic vaccination". First report of a live "attenuated" vaccine for rabies (Louis Pasteur).
• 1888 - Identification of bacterial toxins (diphtheria bacillus) (Pierre Roux and Alexandre Yersin)
• 1888 - Bactericidal action of blood (George Nuttall)
• 1890 - Demonstration of antibody activity against diphtheria and tetanus toxins. Beginning of humoral theory of immunity. (Emil von Behring) and (Shibasaburo Kitasato)
• 1891 - Demonstration of cutaneous (delayed type) hypersensitivity (Robert Koch)
• 1893 - Use of live bacteria and bacterial lysates to treat tumors-"Coley's Toxins" (William B. Coley)
• 1894 - Bacteriolysis (Richard Pfeiffer)
• 1900 - Antibody formation theory (Paul Ehrlich)
• 1901 - blood groups (Karl Landsteiner)
• 1902 - Immediate hypersensitivity anaphylaxis (Paul Portier) and (Charles Richet)
• 1903 - Intermediate hypersensitivity, the "Arthus reaction" (Maurice Arthus)
• 1903 - Opsonization
• 1905 - "Serum sickness" allergy (Clemens von Pirquet and (Bela Schick)
• 1911 - 2nd demonstration of filterable agent that caused tumors (Peyton Rous)
• 1917 - hapten (Karl Landsteiner)
• 1921 - Cutaneous allergic reactions (Carl Prausnitz and Heinz Küstner)
• 1924 - Reticuloendothelial system
• 1938 - Antigen-Antibody binding hypothesis (John Marrack)
• 1940 - Identification of the Rh antigens (Karl Landsteiner and Alexander Weiner)
• 1942 - Anaphylaxis (Karl Landsteiner and Merill Chase)
• 1942 - Adjuvants (Jules Freund and Katherine McDermott)
• 1944 - hypothesis of allograft rejection
• 1946 - identification of mouse MHC (H2) by George Snell and Peter A. Gorer
• 1948 - antibody production in plasma B cells
• 1949 - growth of polio virus in tissue culture, neutralization with immune sera, and demonstration of attenuation of neurovirulence with repetitive passage (John Enders) and (Thomas Weller) and (Frederick Robbins)
• 1949 - immunological tolerance hypothesis
• 1951 - vaccine against yellow fever
• 1953 - Graft-versus-host disease
• 1953 - immunological tolerance hypothesis
• 1957 - Clonal selection theory (Frank Macfarlane Burnet)
• 1957 - Discovery of interferon
• 1958-1962 - Discovery of human leukocyte antigens
• 1959-1962 - Discovery of antibody structure
• 1959 - Discovery of lymphocyte circulation (James Gowans)
• 1960 - Discovery of lymphocyte "blastogenic transformation" and proliferation in response to mitogenic lectins-phytohemagglutinin (PHA) (Peter Nowell)
• 1961-1962 Discovery of thymus involvement in cellular immunity (Jacques Miller)
• 1961- Demonstration that glucocorticoids inhibit PHA-induced lymphocyte proliferation (Peter Nowell)
• 1963 - Development of the plaque assay for the enumeration of antibody-forming cells in vitro (Niels Jerne) (Albert Nordin)
• 1964-1968 T and B cell cooperation in immune response
• 1965 - Discovery of the first lymphocyte mitogenic activity, "blastogenic factor" (Shinpei Kamakura) and (Louis Lowenstein) (J. Gordon) and (L.D. MacLean)
• 1965 - Discovery of "immune interferon" (gamma interferon) (E.F. Wheelock)
• 1965 - Secretory immunoglobulins
• 1967 - Identification of IgE as the reaginic antibody (Kimishige Ishizaka)
• 1968 - Passenger leukocytes identified as significant immunogens in allograft rejection (William L. Elkins and Ronald D. Guttmann)
• 1969 - The lymphocyte cytolysis Cr51 release assay (Theodore Brunner) and (Jean-Charles Cerottini)
• 1971 - Peter Perlmann and Eva Engvall at Stockholm University invented ELISA
• 1972 - Structure of the antibody molecule
• 1974 - T-cell restriction to major histocompatibility complex (Rolf Zinkernagel and (Peter Doherty)
• 1975 - Generation of the first monoclonal antibodies (Georges Köhler) and (César Milstein)
• 1976 - Identification of somatic recombination of immunoglobulin genes (Susumu Tonegawa)
• 1979 - Generation of the first monoclonal T cells (Kendall A. Smith)
• 1980-1983 - Discovery and characterization of the first interleukins, 1 and 2 IL-1 IL-2 (Kendall A. Smith)
• 1981 - Disovery of the IL-2 receptor IL2R (Kendall A. Smith)
• 1983 - Discovery of the T cell antigen receptor TCR (Ellis Reinherz) (Philippa Marrack) and (John Kappler) (James Allison)
• 1983 - Discovery of HIV (Luc Montagnier)
• 1984 - The first single cell analysis of lymphocyte proliferation (Doreen Cantrell) and (Kendall A. Smith)
• 1985-1987 - Identification of genes for the T cell receptor
• 1986 - Hepatitis B vaccine produced by genetic engineering
• 1986 - Th1 vs Th2 model of T helper cell function (Timothy Mosmann)
• 1988 - Discovery of biochemical initiators of T-cell activation: CD4- and CD8-p56lck complexes (Christopher E. Rudd)
• 1990 - Gene therapy for SCID
• 1994 - 'Danger' model of immunological tolerance (Polly Matzinger)
• 1995 - Regulatory T cells (Shimon Sakaguchi)
• 1996-1998 - Identification of Toll-like receptors
• 2001 - Discovery of FOXP3 - the gene directing regulatory T cell development
• 2005 - Development of human papillomavirus vaccine (Ian Frazer)