Since before recorded history, cancer has been a part of human life-and death. Long before humans understood why cancer occurred or how it killed, they recognized this disease. Humans also searched for ways to fight back, often using what might be called crude forms of chemotherapy. For example, in ancient China, people ate the Reishi mushroom when they suspected they suffered from stomach cancer. Other remedies ranged from the ancient Babylonians applying plasters of donkey dung to drinking ginger teas in ancient India. Only in the last century, however, have scientists methodically experimented with chemical cures for this disease.

A Five-Thousand-Year-Old Problem

One of the first people to describe a case of cancer was Imhotep, who in addition to being a royal adviser to the king of Egypt and an architect of the pyramids, was a talented physician...