 | | | | Today In Health History Headlines | | | On this date in 1923, Howard Carter and his team of archaeologists entered the inner tomb of King Tut-ankh-Amen.
The Great Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children admitted its first patient on this date in 1852.
Cancer began to be considered a social problem during the early 20th century, when researchers noticed a rise in the number of cases reported.
On this date in 1843, Oliver Wendell Holmes delivered his paper, “On the Contagiousness of Puerperal Fever,” to the Boston Society for Medical Improvement.
On this date in 1877, the American Physiological Society was formed in Boston, and later that year met at the Physiological Laboratory of the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University, New York City, to organize further.
Born on this date in 1910 in Paris, Jacques Lucien Monod studied at the Sorbonne before emigrating to the United States in 1936.
On this date in 1909, Congress passed the first U.S. law prohibiting the manufacture and sale of opium, an addictive narcotic drug.
On this date in 1837, English nurse Florence Nightingale wrote that the voice of God had spoken to her, calling her to an as-yet unnamed mission.
In the early 1920s, William Parry Murphy began a lifelong association with Peter Bent Brigham Hospital in Boston where he met colleague George R. Minot.
A California woman who was told she could never have children made history on this date in 1984 by giving birth to the first child by embryo transfer.
On this date in 1884, German physician and bacteriologist Robert Koch discovered cholera vibrio, a comma-shaped bacterium that causes Asiatic cholera, an often-deadly disease.
Until a working vaccine was developed against tuberculosis, the primary method for treatment was isolation and rest at a sanatorium.
On this date in 1901, the play “The Three Sisters” debuted on the Moscow stage. The play was written by the Russian physician Anton Chekhov.
Thomas Vicary was barber-surgeon to King Henry VIII during the 16th century.
More than a half-century ago, a then little-known pharmaceutical company named Chas. Pfizer & Co. Inc. was selling penicillin and other products through other companies.
Long ago, picks and enamel scissors were the dentist’s implements of choice to remove decayed tooth tissue.
In 1930, a group of physicians began flying to other countries to demonstrate the latest methods in surgery and medicine.
James Marion Sims laid the foundation for gynecology as a medical specialty, despite his father’s contempt for the profession.
Until 1890, black doctors had no place to admit their patients.
President Lyndon Johnson presented the first Medicare card to former President Harry S. Truman on this date in 1966.
Although William Williams Keen created a number of innovative surgical techniques in the 19th century, he is probably better known as the surgeon who took part in the secret operation on President Grover Cleveland in 1893.
Wilhelm Roentgen, a German physicist, first presented his discovery of an X-ray device in December 1895.
The French-born surgeon Alexis Carrel, doing research at the Rockefeller Institute in New York City, developed techniques using tissue for cultivating the cells of warm-blooded animals.
In 1978, a new California law gave pregnant working women unpaid maternity leave of up to 4 months and a promise that they could return to their old jobs or similar ones when their leave ended.
On this date in 1861, the French physician Prosper Ménière published his first report about a malady of the inner ear that eventually became known as Ménière’s disease.
On this date in 1964, then-U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Luther Terry released the first Surgeon General’s report on smoking and health.
Even if you’ve never lit a cigarette in your life, you may still be in danger of developing diseases associated with the nicotine habit.
The first time that a physician treated a patient with penicillin occurred on this date in 1929.
Norman E. Shumway performed the world’s third human heart transplant, and the first on U.S. soil, on this date in 1968.
Physiologist Joseph Erlanger's research on the nervous tissue of frogs led to an increased knowledge of the nature of nerve impulses.
When he was only 3, Louise Braille, born on this date in 1809, was permanently blinded in an accident with a leatherworking awl in his father's saddlemaking shop in Coupvray, France.
On this date in 1938, U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt established the March of Dimes to fight polio.
It has often been said that the Civil War hastened the development of modern medicine in the United States, mainly because conditions were so unsanitary and disease such a problem during that conflict.
Johann Wepfer was the first to demonstrate the appearance of blood vessels by injecting them with colored liquids.
An effective immunization against tuberculosis had been out of reach until the French team of Camille Guérin and Albert Calmette.
On this date in 1846, surgeon Robert Liston used general anesthetic to remove a man's leg at University College Hospital in London.
On this date in 1932, German chemist and pathologist Gerhard Domagk discovered the antibiotic effects of prontosil, for which he was awarded the 1939 Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine.
You may already know about William Morton's successful dental operation in 1846 using ether as an anesthetic.
Hugo Munsterberg, a pioneer in the field of industrial psychology, examined the workplace particularly the impact of monotony, attention and fatigue, and physical and social influences.
Growing up in Iceland just below the Arctic Circle, Niels Finsen was acutely aware of the good effects of sunlight.
Using the mold on bread as his focus of experimentation, Edward L. Tatum was able to track the genetic inheritance patterns of the mold known as nNeurospora.
The first tuberculosis diagnostic laboratory where specimens of sputum could be examined was authorized on this date in 1893 by the New York City Department of Health.
Andrew Taylor Still grew up in Tennessee and Missouri in the early 1800s and got what education he could from local schools and his father, a Methodist minister.
Famous British man of letters Samuel Johnson kept copious notes and diaries about his life, most of which was filled with illness.
On this date in 1991, Kimberly Bergalis, 23, died of AIDS after contracting HIV from her dentist.
On this date in 1846, English physician Thomas Bevill Peacock described four congenital heart defects often occurring together.
Cremation is nothing new; the Greeks practiced cremation as early as 1000 B.C.
On this date in 1941, an Australian nurse named Elizabeth Kenney obtained U.S. approval for a new polio treatment she devised using massage therapy.
You might consider videotaping the birth of your baby, but would you let a television station tape the delivery to show to its audience?
Today is World AIDS Day, a day devoted to increasing the public’s awareness about acquired immune deficiency syndrome.
Virginia Henderson is regarded by many as the first lady of nursing.
Carlo Levi completed his training to become a doctor in Italy, but his politics got in the way of his practice.
As you might expect, the first state medical society was founded in Massachusetts.
The first operation to remove a brain tumor was performed by the nephew of the famous 19th century British surgeon Joseph Lister.
Russell Morse Wilder contributed a great deal to understanding diabetes.
When the American Medical Association was founded in 1846, it barred women from its membership, furthering the discrimination being practiced against women by members of the medical profession.
Sir Andrew Huxley went to Trinity College, Cambridge, to study the physical sciences, but a suggestion from a friend led him to switch his interest to physiology.
The bizarre healing of a stomach wound allowed a little-known U.S. Army surgeon to found the field of science known as gastroenterology.
Italian physician Cesare Lombroso gained notoriety in the 19th century for his studies relating to criminology.
The field of dental hygiene can be attributed to the foresight of one man: Alfred Civilion Fones.
The invention of the life preserver during the 19th century was a milestone in public health, mainly because knowing how to swim did not become essential to Americans until the early 20th century.
In 1854, just after the Crimean War between England and Russia broke out, a young nurse named Florence Nightingale read reports of the horrid conditions in British medical hospitals.
Samuel Pepys, who is said to have written the greatest diary in the English language, recorded many details of his life in 17th century London, including the great fire of 1666.
Ephraim McDowell received a somewhat unorthodox medical education: He was taught by a private physician in Virginia before attending the University of Edinburgh Medical School in 1793.
Dr. Rudolf Matas, professor of surgery at the University of Louisiana (now Tulane University) from 1895 to 1927, was a pioneer in the surgery of the blood vessels, chest and abdomen and was hailed by some as the “father of vascular surgery."
On this date in 1821, 68 apothecaries met at Carpenters’ Hall in Philadelphia to establish better scientific standards and provide better training for apothecary students and apprentices.
Inkblots are often used in psychiatry to determine a person's personality type.
Ask any grade school student to name a famous woman scientist and the name that's sure to pop up is Marie Curie.
Let's all smile brightly to commemorate the birth of dentist John Allen, who was born on this date in 1810.
Dr. George Miller Sternberg began his distinguished career as an assistant surgeon in the Union army and was even captured during the Civil War.
The seizures and convulsions of epilepsy are associated with a variety of brain dysfunctions including, but not limited to, a head injury, an infection, a tumor, a stroke or even an inherited predisposition.
Although Dr. William Morton is usually associated with the use of ether, it is generally acknowledged that Dr. Crawford Williamson Long was the first to use the substance as an anesthetic.
Anyone who has taken a science class is familiar with the work of John Dalton.
Jonas Salk, born on this date in 1914, is renowned for creating the first successful polio vaccine.
William Harvey was the first to prove that blood continuously circulates throughout the body in a contained system.
An infant girl known only as "Baby Fae" made headlines by becoming the first infant to receive a heart transplant from a monkey.
On this date in 1632, Anton van Leeuwenhoek was born in Delft, The Netherlands. Van Leeuwenhoek became one of the most famous microscope experts of all time.
Philippe Ricord was said to be a practical joker, but his 19th century studies of sexual diseases were no laughing matter.
Thomas Linacre, born around 1460, went to Catholic schools before spending 10 years in Italy studying medicine under a famous doctor of the time (Nicholas Leonicenus).
Daniel Whistler was the first to write about rickets - a bone-deformity disease caused by a deficiency in vitamin D. Whistler first described the disease in a thesis he submitted to obtain his medical degree at the University of Leyden, which was submitted on Oct. 18, 1645.
Two years of collaboration between James Watson and Francis Crick culminated in the creation in 1953 of a model of the molecular structure of DNA.
For anyone who suffered the mumps as a child, today is a day to think about Ernest William Goodpasture, M.D. Goodpasture, an American immunologist born on this date in 1886, is credited with isolating the mumps virus.
Charles Everett Koop, M.D., controversial Surgeon General of the U.S. from 1981 to 1989, was born on this date in 1916.
In 1948, he established the first clinic for alcoholic liver disease at the medical center and began investigating the mechanisms of the disease.
William Quinland was a pathologist and educator who contributed pioneering research on pathology in African-Americans.
Edith H. Quimby, a former high school science teacher who later became a professor of radiology at Columbia University, helped develop applications for X-rays, radium and radioactive isotopes in the early part of this century.
French physician Joseph-Ignace Guillotin (1738-1814) lent his name to a beheading device, the guillotine, used extensively during the French Revolution.
When Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y., opened its doors on this date in 1868, its faculty included a professor of veterinary medicine - the first American university to offer such training.
A preliminary meeting to discuss the formation of a professional pharmaceutical organization was held in October 1851 at the New York College of Pharmacy.
The prestigious Lancet, a British medical journal, was first published on this date in 1823.
Scottish naval surgeon James Lind conducted many experiments while trying to cure scurvy.
The New England Journal of Medicine can trace its roots to the Massachusetts Medical Society.
Fear of surgery and the pain associated with the surgeon’s knife has long been an issue for patients.
One of the most respected physicians of the 17th century, Thomas Sydenham, completed his tome, "Schedula Monitoria de Novae Febris Ingressa," more than 300 years ago today, summing up all he knew about disease.
This week marks the birth of an early kidney expert.
The Feast of Saints Cosmas and Damien, held this week honors the first saints who were called upon specifically to heal disease.
When Paracelsus became a medical professor at the University of Basel, his first assignment was to burn medical books written by Galen and Avicenna.
“The key to every biological problem must finally be sought in the cell,” said Edmund Beecher Wilson, the man who taught the first biology course in this country.
Earle Dickson invented the Band-Aid on this date in 1921. Dickson, who was a cotton buyer for Johnson & Johnson, was newly married at the time.
In 1948, Edward Kendall and Philip Hench created the first of the many “miracle drugs," which were actually synthesized hormones, to treat rheumatoid arthritis and other diseases.
The first national scientific society in the United States was the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), referred to by one of its early members as "the great mother organization" of learning.
One of the most prestigious medical colleges in the country was founded more than 200 years ago today, and doors opened two months later.
Ella Phillips Crandall was a leader in public health nursing who spent much of her career battling disease, filth and poverty in American city slums.
Researchers spent much of the 19th century looking for various ways to mask the pain of surgery.
Ivan Pavlov, Russian physiologist and experimental psychologist, is usually associated with his most famous work, conditioned reflexes.
After receiving a medical degree from the Bellevue Hospital Medical College in New York City, Walter Reed went to work for the boards of health of New York City and Brooklyn
On this date in 1916, physicians Joseph Goldberger and G.A. Wheeler produced pellagra, a nutritional disorder characterized by skin lesions, gastrointestinal and neurological disturbances, in prisoners at a prison farm in rural Mississippi.
On this date in 1944, the Harvard Medical School reported the development of synthetic skin.
On the night of April 15, 1865, a man knocked on the door of the Maryland home of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd seeking medical attention.
This week marks the anniversary of the first use of one of the earliest infant incubators for premature babies.
John Coakley Lettsom (1744-1815) was a famous English physician, philanthropist and chronicler of the human condition.
On this date in 1952, the deep-chill technique was used for the first time in surgery.
"Using sumptuous illustrations and clear, matter-of-fact descriptions, Dr. Gray unleashed a classic on the world more than 100 years ago," noted a review of one of the most recognized medical books of all time: "Gray's Anatomy." Henry Gray published the first edition of the book as, "A Systemic Treatise on Anatomy," on this date in 1858.
Hermann von Helmholtz has been called a genius in the field of medicine, but the German physician only entered the field because a career in physics didn't seem likely to pay the bills.
In the year before he died on this date in 1804, British physician and ethicist Thomas Percival wrote “Medical Ethics,” a book about professional conduct in the medical profession.
On this date in 1911, the British orthopedic surgeon who invented the modern artificial hip, was born.
Alchemy, the medieval theory that base metals could be chemically changed into gold, was widely accepted until Antoine Laurent Lavoisier disproved the theory in the 18th century.
One of a small number of surgeons to win the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine was born on this date in 1841.
We know the anatomy of a cell today because of the many contributions of cell biologist Albert Claude.
Initial rumors about sweating sickness, or “sudor Angelicus,” occurred on this date in 1485, in England.
British physician Thomas Lodge dated a dedication to his “Treatise of the Plague” on this day in 1603.
A failed high blood pressure medication ended up being a top-selling over-the-counter treatment for male pattern baldness.
Robert E. Gross, a pediatric surgeon, perfected one of the earliest surgical procedures on the heart.
Chang and Eng Bunker were conjoined twins who, on this date in 1829, journeyed to Boston from their native Siam (now known as Thailand) to be displayed.
Next time you find yourself staring at the ceiling of your dentist's office think of M. Waldo Hanchett of Syracuse, N.Y.
On this date in 1865, Lord Joseph Lister, M.D., became the first surgeon to use a disinfectant during an operation.
On this date in 1936 American aviator Charles A. Lindbergh and Alexis Carrel, M.D., presented an artificial heart pump they developed to the International Scientific Congress in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Almroth Wright, M.D., a pathologist from Yorkshire, England, discovered an anti-typhoid vaccine in 1896 and headed the Institute of Pathology and Research at St. Mary’s Hospital, London.
Jean Piaget was born on this date in 1896.
On this date in 1797, "The Medical Repository" became the first medical magazine and the first scientific periodical published in the United States.
On this date in 1968, the landmark “A Definition of Irreversible Coma: Report of the Ad Hoc Committee of the Harvard Medical School to Examine the Definition of Brain Death” appeared in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
On this date in 1989, a new treatment for Parkinson's disease was announced.
Dentistry came out of the Dark Ages thanks, in part, to the efforts of Greene Vardiman Black, who was born on this date in 1836.
On Aug. 2, 1946, a nuclear plant in Oak Ridge, Tenn., sold radioactive isotope to the Barnard Free Skin and Cancer Hospital in St. Louis for use in cancer research.
John Collins Warren's father, John Warren, founded the Harvard Medical School in 1782, so it was natural that his son would enroll there.
On this date in 1782, noted physician Benjamin Rush urged his fellow physicians to minister to the sick and take payment in goods and produce, rather than in coin.
In the 1840s, dentistry quickly changed from a field largely perceived as being composed of incompetents to a field with high standards, thanks to the formation of a dental school, a regional society and a journal.
John Warren, physician and educator, was about to open his own medical practice in Boston when the Revolutionary War began and he signed up with the Continental Army.
The founder of analytic psychology, Carl Gustav Jung, developed the concept of the autonomous and unconscious complex and the technique of free association.
In vitro fertilization is popularly, and inaccurately, associated with the term “test tube babies.”
An Austrian monk named Gregor Mendel introduced the world to genetics through his experiments on crossbreeding pea plants.
An American Legion Convention held in Philadelphia beginning on this date in 1976, became the focal point for the hunt for a deadly disease that killed 29 of the conventioneers.
English physician William Heberden made several amazing medical observations in the 18th century.
In the summer of 1873, St. John's Guild in New York City hired a barge and gave two excursions for sick children.
One of the first educators to write widely used textbooks on psychology was Charles Hubbard Jedd, a graduate of Wesleyan University who received his doctor of philosophy degree from the University of Leipzig in Germany in 1896.
In the early 1980s, doctors at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine discovered that an experimental drug called acyclovir was successful in treating cold sores and genital lesions caused by the herpes simplex virus.
On this date in 1883, the first issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association was published.
Acupuncture, the ancient Chinese treatment of using fine needles and inserting them just under the top layer of skin, has gained a measure of acceptance in the United States today.
In the 16th century, a trip to the barbershop could result in more than a trim.
On this date in 1985, H. Harlan Stone, M.D., devised a unique method for keeping patients in stitches.
In April 1721, the first cases of smallpox arrived in Boston on a ship from the West Indies.
In the years after World War II, the U.S. government became more involved in medical research. One of the most significant studies, undertaken in the early '60s, was the Surgeon General's report on the effects of smoking.
Sex was a hot topic after Alfred Charles Kinsey's "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male," or the "Kinsey Report" as it came to be known, was published in 1948.
William McDougall, psychologist and physician, was also an anthropologist.
An early observer of child development was Arnold Lucius Gesell, a psychologist and physician, who observed thousands of children at various ages.
Harold Delf Gillies is not a household name, but he put the facelift on the map of modern medical practice.
Susan La Flesche Picotte, who was the daughter of Joseph "Iron Eye" La Flesche, an Omaha tribe chief, graduated at the top of her class from the Woman's Medical College of Pennsylvania in 1889.
On this date in 1921, the first class of the Army School of Nursing graduated.
Nursing became a respectable field of study mainly because of the efforts of Florence Nightingale.
Today is the anniversary of the birth of Dr. Alois Alzheimer, a German psychiatrist and pathologist who, in 1907, was the first to describe the devastating disease that would bear his name.
In 323 BC, Alexander the Great died mysteriously after partaking in a celebration and consuming large amounts of food and alcohol in Babylon.
The first law to regulate the practice of medicine in the American Colonies was enacted on this date in 1760.
On June 9, 1822, Charles Graham received the first patent for false teeth.
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