The first fully-documented human blood transfusion was performed by Dr. Jean-Baptiste Denys in 1667. He transfused the blood of a sheep to a boy, who later died. Denys was accused of murder, blood transfusions were prohibited in France for next 150 years.

In 1818, British obstetrician and surgeon James Blundell performed the first successful transfusion of human blood to his patient. He performed later 10 transfusions, 5 of which were successful, and invented various transfusion instruments.

In 1901 Austrian biologist and physician Karl Landsteiner developed the system of classification of blood groups for which he was given the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine in 1930. This discovery explained why many previous transfusions were unsuccessful.

In 1914 Russian physician Vadim Yurevich and Belgian doctor Albert Hustin used sodium citrate as an anticoagulant thus opening the way for blood banks.

The first blood transfusion institute was set up by Russian physician and scientist Alexander Bogdanov in Moscow in 1926.

In 1940 Karl Landsteiner, and his colleagues Alex Wiener and Philip Levine discovered the Rh blood group system.

In 1950 the fragile glass bottles for blood collection were replaced with the plastic bags allowing for separation of whole blood.

Refrigerated centrifuge introduced in 1953 allowed further development of blood component therapy.

In 1985 the first blood screening test to detect the probable presence of HIV was licensed and implemented in the United States.

In 2003 the scientists of Stockholm's Karolinska Hospital introduced the blood powder which can be stored for years, It is made from donated supplies of real blood, which normally has a shelf-life of just 42 days.