Today in Medical History

May 27 in Medical History

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

Events

7
  1. 1907Bubonic Plague breaks out in San FranciscoDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  2. 1995Actor Christopher Reeve is paralyzed from the neck down after falling from his horse in a riding competition in Culpeper, VirginiaNotable person's healthOnThisDay
  3. 2019World's rivers widely contaminated with antibiotics according to new global study of 711 sitesDiscovery / ResearchOnThisDay
  4. 2020America's COVID-19 death toll passes 100,000 (Johns Hopkins figures) equal to number of US servicemen and women killed in Korea, Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan put togetherDisease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  5. 2020Spain begins 10 days of mourning for victims of COVID-19 with death toll just under 27,000Disease / EpidemicOnThisDay
  6. 2021English playwright William Shakespeare is reported to have died after receiving the COVID-19 vaccine by Argentine news channel Canal 26 (case of mistaken identity, the Bard died in 1616)Drug / VaccineOnThisDay
  7. 2026Film & TV HistoryMatthew Perry 's live-in assistant, Kenneth Iwamasa, is sentenced to three years and five months in prison for his role in Perry's ketamine overdoseNotable person's healthOnThisDay

Born on this day

5
  1. 1894Louis-Ferdinand CélineFrench writer (Die Nacht), born in Courbevoie, Seine, France (d. 1961)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  2. 1901Conrad ElvehjemAmerican biochemist and nutrition scientist (discovered niacin), born in McFarland, Wisconsin (d. 1962)Medical scientistOnThisDay
  3. 1922Otto CariusGerman lieutenant and pharmacist (died 2015)Dentist / Pharmacist / AlliedWikipedia
  4. 1924Jaime LusinchiVenezuelan physician and politician, President of Venezuela (died 2014)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  5. 1931André BarbeauFrench-Canadian neurologist (died 1986)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia

Died on this day

9
  1. 1910Robert KochGerman pioneering bacteriologist (TB, Cholera, Nobel Prize 1905), dies at 66 (1843-1910)Medical scientistWikipedia
  2. 1945Enno LollingGerman physician (born 1888)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  3. 1963LambrakisGreek EDA-parliament leader, murderedPhysician / SurgeonWikipedia
  4. 1987John H. NorthropAmerican biochemist (crystallized enzymes (Nobel 1946)), dies at 95Medical scientistWikipedia
  5. 2009Mona GreyBritish nursing administrator; Northern Ireland's first Chief Nursing Officer (born 1910)Nurse / MidwifeWikipedia
  6. 2009Abram HofferCanadian biochemist, physician, and psychiatrist (born 1917)Psychiatry / PsychologyWikipedia
  7. 2009William RefshaugeAustralian soldier and physician (born 1913)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  8. 2012David RimoinCanadian-American geneticist and academic (born 1936)Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
  9. 2020Larry KramerAmerican playwright and AIDS activist, dies at 84Health leader / ActivistWikipedia

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.