Cancer, as an illness of man, has been described in the history of medicine since the earliest medical records were kept. This booklet traces the interwoven histories of science, medicine, and cancer from ancient Egypt to the present.

For several thousand years cancer was visible only in its outward manifestations. It was the invention of the microscope that revealed the cancer cell itself. Complex biotechnologies developed in the past two decades have enabled scientists to pursue, at the molecular level, knowledge of the mechanisms that trigger cancer's uncontrolled and deadly cell growth.

Fundamental biomedical research supported by the National Cancer Institute since its establishment in 1937 has advanced the understanding of cancer. Using the tools of molecular biology and molecular genetics, scientists are making great leaps in discovery, mapping out the links between chromosomes, the genes within, and cancer. Potential new cancer treatments and diagnostic tools are limited only by innovation and resourcefulness as NCI continues to define the extraordinary research opportunities that will result in the successful control of this disease.