March 8 in Medical History
23 entries: discoveries, epidemics, drugs and the people who shaped medicine.
Observed today
- Christian feast day: — John of God
Events
- Phyllis M Daley is 1st black nurse sworn in as US Navy ensign
- 1st woman medical officer assigned to naval vessel (BR Walters)
- 17th Easter Seal Telethon raises $35,184,425
- Film & TV HistoryKatharine Hepburn released from the hospital after exhaustion
- US Defense Department announces smoking ban in workplaces
- America registers 521 cases of COVID-19 with 21 deaths across 33 states
- Italy announces it is locking down northern region of Lombardy, including Milan, with 16 million people, as COVID-19 cases reach 5,800 with 233 deaths
- BNP Paribas Open international tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, dubbed 'the 5th Grand Slam' is cancelled due to concerns surrounding COVID-19 and the safety of participants and attendees
Born on this day
- John of GodPortuguese-born friar and saint, founder of the Hospitaller Order of St. John of God, born in Montemor-o-Novo, Évora, Portugal (d. 1550)
- John FothergillEnglish physician, born in Wensleydale, England (d. 1780)
- Karl Ferdinand von GraefeGerman surgeon who helped create modern plastic surgery , born in Warsaw, Poland (1787-1840)
- Ignacy ŁukasiewiczPolish engineer , businessman and inventor who built the 1st modern oil refinery and invented the kerosene lamp, born in Zaduszniki, Mielec, Austrian Empire (1822-1882)
- Edward Calvin KendallAmerican chemist, isolated cortisone (Nobel 1950), born in South Norwalk, Connecticut (d. 1972)
- Bernard BenjaminBritish health statistician, actuary and demographer, born in London (d. 2002)
- Elsie GiorgiAmerican-Italian physician and humanitarian, born in The Bronx, New York (d. 1998)
Died on this day
- John of GodPortuguese-Spanish saint who cared for the poor and sick (Brothers Hospitallers of Saint John), dies of pneumonia at 55
- William Cowper/CooperEnglish anatomist, dies at about 62
- Benjamin Ruggles WoodbridgeAmerican doctor, Massachusetts militia officer, member of the Massachusetts legislature, dies at 80
- Hulusi BehçetTurkish dermatologist and scientist (born 1889)
- Alison McCartneyBritish ophthalmic pathologist and breast cancer campaigner, dies at 45
- Brian Barratt-BoyesNew Zealand heart surgeon (b. 1924)
- Zbigniew ReligaMinister of Health of the Republic of Poland (b. 1938)