The Nuremberg Code, established in 1947, is a set of ethical principles developed to guide human experimentation in response to the atrocities committed during the Nazi medical experiments in WWII.

Drafted during the Nuremberg Trials, where Nazi doctors were prosecuted for war crimes, the Code emphasized the importance of voluntary consent from human subjects, acknowledging the necessity of individuals’ autonomy in choosing to participate in research. It sets strict guidelines to ensure that experiments would be conducted with beneficence, only when scientifically necessary, and with minimal risk of harm to participants. The Code also required that experiments be conducted by qualified professionals and that subjects have the right to withdraw at any time.

These principles laid the foundation for modern bioethics, profound ly influencing  research practices worldwide.