Today in Medical History

December 13 in Medical History

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

Events

8
  1. 1984Artificial heart recipient William Schroeder suffers 1st strokeNotable person's healthOnThisDay
  2. 1995Christopher Reeve released from physical rehab center after his fall from his horse in a riding competitionNotable person's healthOnThisDay
  3. 2020Germany announces a strict lockdown till Jan 10 after looser restrictions failed to prevent COVID-19 numbers surgingDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  4. 20211 in a 100 Americans aged over 65 has now died of COVID-19, or 75% of total deaths, according to the CDCDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  5. 2021First COVID-19 Omicron death in the UK reported by PM Boris JohnsonDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  6. 2022New Zealand passes world's first tobacco ban, outlawing smoking for those born after 2009Public health / PolicyOnThisDay
  7. 2023Researchers pinpoint a possible cause of extreme morning sickness in pregnancy: low levels of the hormone GDF15Discovery / ResearchOnThisDay
  8. 2024US Center for Disease Control confirms the first severe case of a person with bird flu in Louisiana, out of more than 60 in 2024Disease / EpidemicOnThisDay

Born on this day

6
  1. 1724Franz AepinusGerman physician and physicist, born in Rostock, Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin (d. 1802)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  2. 1814Ana NériBrazilian nurse and philanthropist (died 1880)Nurse / MidwifeWikipedia
  3. 1927Herbert NeedlemanAmerican pediatrician and researcher known for his work on the effects of lead poisoning in children, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (d. 2017)Physician / SurgeonOnThisDay
  4. 1935Türkan SaylanTurkish physician and academic (died 2009)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  5. 1937Ron TaylorCanadian physician and baseball player (died 2025)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  6. 1945Julio PalmazArgentine physician and inventor (intravascular stent), born in La Plata, ArgentinaPhysician / SurgeonOnThisDay

Died on this day

6
  1. 1204Maimonides [Moses Ben Maimon]Sephardic Jewish philosopher, astronomer and physician (Mishneh Torah), dies in Cairo at 69Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  2. 1565Conrad GessnerSwiss physician and naturalist, dies at 49Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  3. 1851Joel Roberts PoinsettAmerican statesman (Minister to Mexico, 1825-29; Secretary of War, 1837-41), physician, and botanist, dies of tuberculosis and pneumonia at 72Physician / SurgeonOnThisDay
  4. 1929Rosina HeikelFinnish physician (born 1842)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  5. 1930Fritz PreglSlovenian/Austrian chemist, Nobel laureate (b. 1869)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  6. 1955Egas MonizPortuguese psychiatrist and neurosurgeon (1949 Nobel laureate for developing Lobotomy procedure), dies at 81Psychiatry / PsychologyWikipedia

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.