October 21 in Medical History

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

Observed today

1854Nightingale Heads to the Crimean WarFlorence Nightingale , with a staff of 38 nurses, is sent to the Crimean WarHealthcare institution / ProfessionWikipedia
1987The Jaffna hospital massacre is carried out by Indian peacekeeping forces in Sri Lanka, killing 70 Tamil patients, doctors and nurses.Public health / PolicyWikipedia
2020Spain becomes the first European country to record more than 1 million COVID-19 cases, with the death toll at 34,366Disease / EpidemicOnThisDay

1660Georg Ernst StahlGerman physician and chemist (Vitalism), born in Anspach, Bavaria(d. 1734)Physician / SurgeonOnThisDay
1877Oswald AveryCanadian-American physician and microbiologist (died 1955)Medical scientistWikipedia
1919Daniel John CunninghamBritish physiologist (human breathing control), born in Kausali, India (d. 1996)Medical scientistOnThisDay
1955Fred HerschAmerican jazz pianist, composer, educator (New England Conservatory), and HIV/AIDS activist, born in Cincinnati, OhioHealth leader / ActivistWikipedia

1558Julius Caesar ScaligerItalian-French physician and scholar (On the Subtlety of Things), dies at 74Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
1980Hans AspergerAustrian pediatrician and eponym of Asperger syndrome, dies at 74Physician / SurgeonWikipedia
2014Christopher FranceBritish civil servant and Permanent Secretary (Department of Health 1986-92, Ministry of Defence 1992-95), dies at 80Health leader / ActivistOnThisDay
2020J. Michael LaneAmerican epidemiologist and the final director of the smallpox eradication bureau at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dies of cancer at 84Medical scientistOnThisDay

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.