Short answers, pulled from the story.
Irynakhty was the earliest known gastroenterologist, serving as a court physician during the tenth dynasty in 2125 B.C. He dedicated his life to studying the belly, sleep, and the rectum, establishing the first known specialization in what is now called gastroenterology.
Italian physician Lazzaro Spallanzani proved digestion was a chemical reaction by 1780. His experimental proof showed that gastric juice actively dissolved foodstuffs, shattering ancient theories that attributed digestion to a mystical process of concoction.
Basil Hirschowitz introduced the first prototype of a fiber-optic gastroscope in 1957. This invention allowed doctors to see deep into the stomach without the rigid, painful constraints of earlier metal tubes and changed the diagnosis of diseases from a guessing game into a visual certainty.
Australian researchers Barry Marshall and Robin Warren discovered Helicobacter pylori in 1982 and 1983. Their finding that this bacterium caused the vast majority of ulcers earned them the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2005.
A typical colonoscopy procedure takes between 30 and 60 minutes. This exam involves passing a long, thin tube with a camera through the anus to visualize the entire colon while the patient is usually sedated.
The American College of Gastroenterology was founded in 1932 by ten gastroenterologists in New York City. The organization now represents over 16,000 members from 86 countries.