How to track back a scientific subject (when it was published for the first time and it turned sth common)?

Question

How to know how much up-to-date a topic of research is? I thank you before hand for the trouble you take answering me.

Answer 1

I would try to search for "history of ...." on yahoo or google, otherwise medical websites like emedicine and uptodate sometimes do start with the history of the topic when they discuss something, emedicine is free and uptodate costs 500 dollars a year, good luck