Today in Medical History

March 23 in Medical History

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

Events

12
  1. 752Pope-elect Stephen is selected to succeed Zacharias as Catholic Pope only to die of a stroke two days laterNotable person's healthOnThisDay
  2. 19361st Intravenous Radioisotope InjectionPhysician Joseph G. Hamilton injects a leukemia patient with a sodium radioisotope, first intravenous injection of a human with a radioisotopeDiscovery / ResearchOnThisDay
  3. 1950Actress Frances Farmer is released from Western State HospitalMental healthOnThisDay
  4. 1981US Supreme Court rules states could require, with some exceptions, parental notification when teen-age girls sought abortionsPublic health / PolicyOnThisDay
  5. 2005The United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a 2-1 decision, refuses to order the reinsertion of Terri Schiavo's feeding tubePublic health / PolicyOnThisDay
  6. 2010Event of InterestUS President Barack Obama signs the Affordable Care Act (ACA), nicknamed 'Obamacare', expanding the availability and affordability of health care insurancePublic health / PolicyWikipedia
  7. 2014The World Health Organization (WHO) reports cases of Ebola in the forested rural region of southeastern Guinea, marking the beginning of the largest Ebola outbreak in history.Disease / EpidemicWikipedia
  8. 2020COVID-19 lockdowns imposed in South Africa and the United Kingdom while other European nations extend and strengthen their lockdownsDisease / EpidemicWikipedia
  9. 2020New York confirmed as new center of the COVID-19 pandemic in the US with 20,875 cases (5,707 in the last day) and 157 deathsDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  10. 2020WHO says the COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating, 1st 100,000 cases took 67 days, 2nd 100,000 cases 11 days, 3rd 100,000 cases 4 daysDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  11. 2020Call for Global CeasefireImmediate global ceasefire to fight COVID-19 called for by UN Secretary General Antonio GuterresDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  12. 2021Brazil Battles COVID-19Brazil's daily COVID-19 death toll passes 3,000 (3,251) for the first time (298,676 total deaths reported) as country's Supreme Court blocks President Jair Bolsonaro overturning local restrictionsDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay

Born on this day

6
  1. 1638Frederik RuyschDutch anatomist and botanist (developed techniques for preserving specimens), born in The Hague, Dutch Republic (d. 1731)Medical scientistOnThisDay
  2. 1900Erich FrommGerman psychologist and psychoanalyst (Sane Society), born in Frankfurt Germany (d. 1980)Psychiatry / PsychologyWikipedia
  3. 1907Daniel BovetSwiss-Italian pharmacologist (1957 Nobel Prize Physiology or Medicine, discovered chemotherapeutic agents including antihistamines), born in Fleurier, Switzerland (d. 1992)Medical scientistWikipedia
  4. 1921Ian ToddEnglish surgeon, President of the Royal College of Surgeons (1986-89), born in London, England (d. 2015)Physician / SurgeonOnThisDay
  5. 1929Roger BannisterEnglish athlete (first sub-4-minute mile, 3:59.4 at Iffley Road Track, Oxford 1954), born in Harrow, England (1929-2018)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  6. 1937Robert GalloAmerican physician who co-discovered the AIDS virus and pioneered the HIV blood test, born in Waterbury, ConnecticutPhysician / SurgeonWikipedia

Died on this day

2
  1. 1983Barney ClarkAmerican dentist and heart patient, dies 112 days after implant of 1st artificial heart at 62Dentist / Pharmacist / AlliedOnThisDay
  2. 2008Vaino VahingEstonian psychiatrist, author, and playwright (born 1940)Psychiatry / 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.