Siemens Healthineers: Timeline of Events
1840s:
1844: Werner von Siemens experiments with medical applications of electricity, relieving his brother's toothache with a self-built induction device.
October 1847: Werner von Siemens and Johann Georg Halske found Siemens & Halske (S&H) in Berlin, initially focused on telegraph technology.
Late 1847: Siemens & Halske introduces its first medical product, the Slide Inductor, an electrotherapy machine.
1870s - 1890s:
1877: Erwin Moritz Reiniger opens a workshop for electro-medical devices in Erlangen.
1886: Reiniger partners with Max Gebbert and Karl Schall to found Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall (RGS), a leading producer of medical instruments, particularly for X-ray technology.
November 1895: Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovers X-rays.
Late 1895: Siemens engineers begin designing the company's first X-ray tubes for medical use within weeks of Röntgen's discovery.
1896: Siemens produces the first industrially manufactured X-ray tubes for medical diagnostics.
1901: Friedrich Dessauer establishes a lab in Aschaffenburg, which becomes Veifa-Werke, dedicated to exploring X-rays.
1900s - 1930s:
Early 20th Century: Siemens & Halske, RGS, and Veifa-Werke compete and collaborate in the emerging field of radiography.
1914 - 1918: World War I causes significant challenges for the companies, with market collapse, worker conscription, and a shift towards military production. Veifa-Werke falls into financial trouble.
Post-WWI: Germany experiences hyperinflation and instability. RGS accumulates heavy debts by 1924.
January 1, 1925: Siemens & Halske takes over Reiniger, Gebbert & Schall (RGS) to provide financial stability. RGS initially remains an independent subsidiary.
1932: The merger of Siemens & Halske and RGS is structurally completed with the formation of Siemens-Reiniger-Werke (SRW) as a unified medical technology company within Siemens. Headquarters and manufacturing are consolidated in Erlangen.
1933: Siemens introduces the world's first rotating anode X-ray tube, marketed as "Pantix," significantly improving X-ray performance.
1933: The National Socialists come to power in Germany.
1939 - 1945: World War II disrupts production at SRW, with employees conscripted and some facilities employing forced labour.
1940s - 1960s:
Post-1945: Siemens-Reiniger-Werke rebuilds and re-establishes international connections.
1950: SRW reintroduces itself on the world stage at the International Congress of Radiology in London.
Early 1950s: Inge Edler and Carl Hellmuth Hertz in Sweden, with Siemens support, achieve the world's first echocardiogram using ultrasound.
1958: A team at Siemens-Elema in Sweden designs the first implantable cardiac pacemaker, which is implanted in a patient by Åke Senning in Stockholm.
Mid-1960s: Siemens engineer Ralph Soldner invents the Vidoson, the world's first "real-time" ultrasound machine.
1966: Siemens AG is formed, and the medical technology division becomes known internally as "Wernerwerk für Medizinische Technik."
1970s - 1980s:
1974: Siemens scientists present the company's first tomographic X-ray image of a human head at the Radiological Society of North America meeting in Chicago.
1975: Siemens releases its first commercial CT scanner, the Siretom.
Late 1970s: Siemens' research laboratories work on MRI prototypes.
February 1980: Siemens obtains its first MRI image of a human head (Dr. Alexander Ganssen).
August 1983: Siemens commissions its first commercial MRI scanner, the MAGNETOM, at the Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology in St. Louis, USA.
1980s: Siemens advances angiography, fluoroscopy, and invests in nuclear medicine, opening an R&D facility in Illinois.
Late 1980s: Siemens develops the Syngo imaging software platform and introduces early Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS).
1990s - 2000s:
1992: Siemens establishes its first manufacturing site in China (Shanghai) for X-ray and ultrasound systems.
1998: Siemens introduces the first track-based lab automation system, the Advia LabCell.
Early 2000s: Siemens opens advanced production facilities in Shenzhen (MRI magnets) and Wuxi (X-ray tubes) in China. Expansion also occurs in India and the USA (Illinois for molecular imaging).
2000: Siemens acquires Shared Medical Systems (SMS), a U.S. hospital information systems company.
2000: Siemens unveils the Biograph PET-CT, the first system to physically combine PET and CT scanners in one unit.
2006: Siemens announces the acquisition of Diagnostic Products Corporation (DPC) and the Diagnostics Division of Bayer.
2007: Siemens further expands its lab portfolio by acquiring Dade Behring.
2000s - 2010s:
2005: Siemens first launches its Dual-Source CT scanner as the SOMATOM Definition.
2010: Siemens launches the Biograph mMR, the world's first fully integrated PET-MRI scanner.
2011: Siemens exits the business of radiation therapy linear accelerators.
2014: Siemens sells its hospital IT business to Cerner.
2016: Siemens rebrands its healthcare division as Siemens Healthineers.
2017: Siemens Healthineers launches a portable ultrasound system priced for primary care settings.
2017: Siemens launches the Atellica Solution for high-throughput labs.
2018: Siemens Healthineers AG debuts as a publicly listed company on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange.
2019: Siemens Healthineers acquires Corindus Vascular Robotics, specializing in robotic-assisted systems for minimally invasive procedures.
2020: Siemens introduces the AI-Rad Companion, an AI software suite for automated image analysis.
August 2, 2020: Siemens Healthineers announces an agreement to acquire Varian Medical Systems for $16.4 billion.
2021:
April 2021: The acquisition of Varian Medical Systems is completed.
2021: Siemens Healthineers receives FDA clearance for the Naeotom Alpha, its next-generation photon-counting CT scanner.
2022 - Early 2025:
Early 2020s: Siemens Healthineers responds to the COVID-19 pandemic with diagnostic assays and remote service technologies.
2022: Siemens Healthineers faces scrutiny for its continued operations in Russia following the invasion of Ukraine.
August 2024: Siemens Healthineers acquires the diagnostic arm of Advanced Accelerator Applications (AAA) from Novartis, specialising in radiopharmaceuticals.
Early 2025: Siemens Healthineers continues to focus on developing photon-counting CT, high-field MRI, accessible imaging solutions, advanced lab diagnostics, and integrating AI across its portfolio. The Varian division focuses on innovations like flash radiation therapy and AI-driven treatment planning.
