January 12 in Medical History
21 entries: discoveries, epidemics, drugs and the people who shaped medicine.
Events
- First X-ray photo in the US (Dr. Henry Smith, Davidson, NC)
- 9 "Jewish" physicians arrested for "terrorist activities" in Moscow
- Dr. James Bedford becomes the first person to be cryonically preserved with the intent of future resuscitation; his remains are stored at the Alcor Life Extension Foundation
- NHL great Mario Lemieux announces that he has been diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma
- Nineteen European nations agree to forbid human cloning.
- Beijing’s level of air pollution is declared to be at levels that are hazardous to human health
- The island nation of Cape Verde is the first sub-Saharan country to be declared malaria-free in 50 years by the WHO
Born on this day
- Jan Baptist van HelmontFlemish chemist and physician (died 1644)
- Lazzaro SpallanzaniItalian physiologist and biologist, born in Modena, Duchy of Modena and Reggio (now Italy) (d. 1799)
- Gideon BrecherAustrian physician and Jewish writer, born in Prossnitz, Moravia (d. 1873)
- Johannes VaresEstonian poet, physician, and politician (died 1946)
- David WechslerAmerican psychologist who developed intelligence scales, born in Lespezi, Romania, (d. 1981)
- Mieko KamiyaJapanese psychiatrist and psychologist (died 1979)
- Fiona CaldicottEnglish psychiatrist and psychotherapist (died 2021)
- Chet JastremskiAmerican swimmer and physician (died 2014)
- Michael W. VannierAmerican radiologist, born in Hamilton City, California
- Marilyn SmithAmerican microbiologist, born in Americus, Georgia
- Göran LindbladSwedish politician, born in Gothenburg, Sweden
Died on this day
- Hugh MercerScottish military officer (fought in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War), dies of his wounds at the Battle of Princeton at 50
- Lars LeksellSwedish physician, professor of neurosurgery, and inventor of radio surgery, dies at 78
- Charles HugginsAmerican-Canadian physician and cancer researcher (1966 Nobel Prize), dies at 95