Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first hole drilled into a human skull dates back to the Neolithic era. Evidence from prehistoric sites suggests that early surgeons were not merely experimenting with death but were attempting to relieve intracranial pressure caused by trauma or disease.
The oldest known surgical text is the Edwin Smith Papyrus from ancient Egypt, which dates to approximately 1600 BC but describes practices likely centuries older. This text details the examination and treatment of forty-eight cases of trauma and disease.
Joseph Lister published his findings on antiseptic surgery in five articles running from March 1867 to July 1867. He read a paper before the British Medical Association in Dublin on the 9th of August 1867 on the Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery.
John Hunter is generally regarded as the father of modern scientific surgery. He brought an empirical and experimental approach to the science and reconstructed surgical knowledge from scratch by conducting his own surgical experiments.
Halfdan T. Mahler, the third Director-General of the World Health Organization, first brought attention to the disparities in surgery and surgical care in 1980. He stated in his address to the World Congress of the International College of Surgeons that the vast majority of the world's population has no access whatsoever to skilled surgical care.
The Lancet Commission on Global Surgery published the landmark report titled Global Surgery 2030: evidence and solutions for achieving health, welfare, and economic development in 2015. The report described the large, pre-existing burden of surgical diseases in low- and middle-income countries and future directions for increasing universal access to safe surgery by the year 2030.