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Aspirin is the most widely used drug in the world. It has even been recognized as such by the Guinness Book of World Records.
The first oncogene was discovered in 1970 and was termed SRC (pronounced "SARK").
Atropine, along with scopolamine and hyoscyamine, is found in the Datura stramonium plant, which gives hallucinogenic effects and is also known as locoweed.
More than 2,500 barbiturates have been synthesized. At the height of their popularity, about 50 were marketed for human use.
When Gabriel Fahrenheit invented the first mercury thermometer, he called "zero degrees" the lowest temperature he was able to attain with a mixture of ice and salt. For the upper point of his scale, he used 96°, which he measured as normal human body temperature (we know it to be 98.6° today because of more accurate thermometers).