Botox, also known as botulinum toxin, was first discovered in the late 1800s by a bacteriologist named Justinus Kerner. He observed that the toxin, produced by the bacteria Clostridium botulinum, could cause paralysis in animals. In the 1950s, Dr. Alan Scott and Dr. Edward Schantz began experimenting with using small doses of the toxin to treat a variety of medical conditions, such as strabismus (crossed eyes) and blepharospasm (involuntary eyelid spasms).