May 4 in Medical History
27 entries: discoveries, epidemics, drugs and the people who shaped medicine.
Events
- League of Nations conference on arms control and poison gas usage
- Minnesota Twins rookie outfielder Jim Eisenreich, who suffers from Tourette's Syndrome, removes himself due to taunts from Red Sox bleacher fans
- US politician Mo Udall, Representative for Arizona (1961-91), resigns due to Parkinson disease
- Event of InterestUS President George H. W. Bush is hospitalized for erratic heartbeat
- Countries in Europe begin cautious reopening after COVID-19 lockdown, Italy restarts construction and takeaways, Germany reopens schools
- India begins lifting some restrictions in regions with fewer COVID-19 cases
- World leaders pledge $8 billion to research treatments and a vaccine for COVID-19, with the US and Russia not taking part
- Malian woman Halima Cisse gives birth to nonuplets (nine babies) in Morocco, in only the third known case worldwide
- Event of InterestUS President Joe Biden announces new goal of 160 million people, nearly of 70% of adults, vaccinated by July 4
- Following several positive Covid-19 cases across franchises the BCCI announces the indefinite postponement of the Indian Premier League cricket tournament
- First of its kind study of transgender children, by Princeton University, transitioning aged 3-12, found vast majority continue to identify with their new gender five years later
- In 2022 Covid-19 slipped from third to fourth leading cause of death in the US (behind heart disease, cancer and unintentional injuries) according to National Center for Health Statistics
- WHO declares Covid-19 over as a global health emergency, but remains a significant threat, with seven million known deaths (real total likely to be 20 million)
- Chinese writer Yiyun Li wins Pulitzer Prize for Memoir or Autobiography for "Things in Nature Merely Grow," recounting the suicides of her teenage sons
Born on this day
- Joseph CarpueEnglish surgeon who pioneered early plastic surgery in England, born in London, England (d. 1846)
- Charles Boucher de BouchervillePremier of Quebec, born in Montreal, Quebec (d. 1915)
- Archibald McIndoeNew Zealand plastic surgeon pioneer who rehabilitated badly burned Royal Air Force crew during WWII, born in Dunedin, New Zealand (1900-1960)
- (Nicolaas) "Cola" DebrotDutch lawyer, doctor.author and politician (Governor of the Netherlands Antilles, 1962-70), born in Kralendijk, Netherlands (d. 1981)
- Stanley BiberAmerican physician and pioneer of transgender surgery, born in Des Moines, Iowa (d. 2006)
- Thomas StuttafordBritish doctor, medical columnist (The Times, 1981-2009), and Conservative MP (1970-74), born in Norfolk, England (d. 2018)
- Robin CookAmerican physician and novelist, born in New York City
Died on this day
- Luca GhiniItalian physician and botanist (b. 1490)
- Simon StijlFrisian physician and writer, dies at 73
- Nettie StevensAmerican geneticist (discovered sex chromosomes), dies of cancer at 51
- Edward Calvin KendallAmerican chemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (b. 1886)
- Christian de DuveBritish cytologist and biochemist (Nobel 1974), dies from euthanasia at 95
- Otis BowenAmerican politician, US Sec of Health & Human Services (1985-89), dies at 95