tumors . 1900 -- Thor Stenbeck cures a patient with skin cancer using small doses of daily radiation therapy . This technique is later referred to as fractionated radiation therapy . 1900s -- Dr. George Papanicolaou invents the Pap smear test after his findings suggest that vaginal cell smears reveal the presence of cancer . 1943 -- The first electron linear accelerator is designed for radiation therapy . Today , it is widely used for treatment of cancer . Late 1960s -- Lars Leksell develops the Gamma Knife -- a radiosurgical tool that uses a high dose of radiation to eradicate cancerous cells . 1964 -- The Epstein-Barr virus is linked to human cancer for the first time . 1974 -- Dr. Lawrence Einhorn finds a cure for advanced testicular cancer . This changes the cure rate from 5 percent to 60 percent . 1975 -- Scientists Georges Kohler and Cesar Milstein develop tailor-made antibodies in large quantities in a laboratory , leading to ways of attacking cancer and diagnosing disease . They go on to win the Nobel Prize in 1984 . 1976 -- Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus discover oncogene , a gene that , when mutated or
-LRB- CNN -RRB- -- Greek physician Hippocrates was the first to use the words `` carcinos '' and `` carcinoma '' in 400 BC to describe tumors , which led to the term `` cancer '' being coined . Greek physician Hippocrates was the first to use the words `` carcinos '' and `` carcinoma '' to describe tumors , which led to the term ` cancer . '' Since his day , medical advances in the treatment of cancer have evolved significantly . Below we chart some of the key moments in the battle against cancer . 1890 -- William Stewart Halsted , the first professor of surgery at Johns Hopkins , Harvard , and Yale , performs the first mastectomy to treat breast cancer . 1895 -- Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovers X-ray radiation , which makes the detection of tumors in the body much easier and non-invasive . Later in 1899 , Tage Anton Ultimus Sjogren becomes the first person to successfully treat cancer with X-rays . 1896 -- Removal of the ovaries is performed for the first time to treat breast cancer . 1898 -- Marie and Pierre Curie discover radium and later use it to treat