Today in Medical History

April 20 in Medical History

18 entries: discoveries, epidemics, drugs and the people who shaped medicine.

Events

9
  1. 18621st Pasteurization TestFirst pasteurization test is completed by Frenchmen Louis Pasteur and Claude BernardDiscovery / ResearchWikipedia
  2. 1943Braves manager Casey Stengel is struck by a taxi, fractures a legNotable person's healthOnThisDay
  3. 1945Twenty Jewish children used in medical experiments at Neuengamme are killed in the basement of the Bullenhuser Damm school.Discovery / ResearchWikipedia
  4. 1992Joan Lunden breaks her left shoulder after being thrown from a horseNotable person's healthOnThisDay
  5. 1994Serbian army bombs hospital in Goradze, Bosnia, 47 killedHealthcare institution / ProfessionOnThisDay
  6. 199727th Easter Seals Telethon raises $47,392,682Healthcare institution / ProfessionOnThisDay
  7. 2020The last three cruise ships still afloat amid COVID pandemic, finally dock at the ports of Marseille, France; Barcelona, Spain; and Los Angeles CaliforniaDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  8. 2020Three US states, Georgia, Tennessee, and South Carolina, are the first to announce the end of some COVID-19 restrictionsDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  9. 2021Record number of new COVID-19 cases reported (5.24 million) in one week around the world according to WHO, with a third in IndiaDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay

Born on this day

5
  1. 1745Philippe PinelFrench physician and father of modern psychiatry who developed a more humane approach to the custody and care of psychiatric patients, born in Jonquières, France (1745-1826)Psychiatry / PsychologyWikipedia
  2. 1915Joseph WolpeSouth African psychotherapist, born in Johannesburg, South Africa (d. 1997)Psychiatry / PsychologyWikipedia
  3. 1920Frances AmesSouth African neurologist, psychiatrist, and human rights activist (died 2002)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  4. 1939Gro Harlem BrundtlandNorwegian Prime Minister (1981-82, 1986-89, 1990-96) and Director-General of the World Health Organization, born in Bærum, NorwayHealth leader / ActivistWikipedia
  5. 1955Svante PääboSwedish geneticist (Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine 2022 - work on genomes of extinct hominins), born in Stockholm, SwedenMedical scientistWikipedia

Died on this day

4
  1. 1344GersonidesFrench Jewish philosopher, Talmudist, mathematician, physician, and astronomer (born 1288)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  2. 1831John AbernethyEnglish surgeon, dies at 67Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  3. 1885Gustav NachtigalGerman physician and explorer (consul in Tunis, secured protectorates for Germany in central Africa), dies at sea at 51Physician / SurgeonOnThisDay
  4. 2003Bernard KatzGerman-born Australian biophysicist (Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1970), dies at 92Medical scientistWikipedia

Sources: onthisday.com and Wikipedia's “On this day” (text under CC BY-SA 4.0), screened for medical relevance. Each entry links to its source.